The American justice investigation into the storming of the Capitol and the attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 election is progressing rapidly and exposes Donald Trump to several criminal prosecutions.
The former president himself announced on Tuesday that he had received a letter from federal prosecutor Jack Smith informing him that he was personally targeted by this investigation. This suggests that an indictment in this other case is possible. Mr. Smith declined to comment.
The tempestuous politician and billionaire, big favorite of the Republican primaries for 2024, is indeed already doubly indicted by justice: in the case of the confidential documents of the White House and for suspicious payments to a former actress of X movies. He pleaded not guilty in both cases.
According to several American media, Jack Smith informed Mr. Trump that he was targeting him, in this third investigation into the lost 2020 election, for three counts: conspiracy against the American state, obstruction of official process and deprivation of rights.
Review in detail:
First, Donald Trump can be charged for his participation in a “conspiracy against the American state”, which requires the involvement of at least two people and is punishable by five years in prison.
According to Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor now a professor at Columbia University in New York, this is a very broad qualification that can be retained for different actions of Trump, before and after the November 2020 election.
For example: “the fraudulent attempt to mislead the American Congress and to postpone, even to block, the validation of the ballot”, by Donald Trump, explains Daniel Richman.
It is also possible that this charge will be retained to qualify the pressure exerted by Donald Trump on his vice-president Mike Pence so that he does not validate the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in Congress, on January 6, 2021, the day of the assault on the Capitol. Mike Pence had not given in.
This leader can also allow the Republican billionaire to be prosecuted for alleged electoral fraud committed in certain states aimed at ensuring the number of electors necessary for his re-election.
This week, the justice of the State of Michigan (north) has also charged 16 people accused of having sought to usurp the function of great voter to tip the scales in favor of Donald Trump, while following a strategy orchestrated by two lawyers close to the ex-president, Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, who are also potentially exposed to prosecution.
This count covers the fact of having sought, in a fraudulent manner, to influence or block an official process, in this case the certification of the election won by Joe Biden. He has already been held up for more than 300 of the former president’s supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In Donald Trump’s case, it “could be used over and over,” according to Daniel Richman. For example, when Donald Trump called on his supporters to “fight like the devils”, shortly before they marched to the seat of Congress, although he himself did not go to the Capitol that day.
Obstruction of an official process is punishable by up to three years in prison.
This qualification dates back to the end of the Civil War (1861-1865). She then aimed to prosecute those who sought to deprive former African-American slaves of their right to vote.
It makes it possible to prosecute a person who tries to deprive a citizen of the rights conferred on him by the Constitution or federal laws, in particular the right to vote and the right to have this vote taken into account.
More recently, this charge has been used to prosecute people accused of electoral fraud.
“What is important is that this qualification makes it possible to show that the victims were not only state agents” but also ordinary citizens, Daniel Richman told AFP.
It can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
21/07/2023 07:59:09 – Washington (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
