Crime

Donald Trump Likely to Be Indicted a Whopping Third (and Maybe Even Fourth!) Time

The ex-president is thoroughly f--ked.
LAS VEGAS NEVADA  JULY 08 Former United States President Donald Trump attends the UFC 290 event at TMobile Arena on July...
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 08: Former United States President Donald Trump attends the UFC 290 event at T-Mobile Arena on July 08, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)Jeff Bottari/Getty Images

Donald Trump made history back in April when he became the first US president ever to be charged with a crime after leaving office, in this case by the Manhattan prosecutors in connection with hush money payments. Then he did it again in June when he was indicted by the Justice Department for his handling of classified documents. At this time, you might be wondering, Will he go for another one? And the answer appears to be, yes, he will, and pretty soon at that!

On Tuesday, the ex-president took to Truth Social—the social media network he started after being kicked off of Twitter for inciting an insurrection—to tell people that on Sunday night, special counsel Jack Smith sent him a letter informing him that he is the target of the DOJ’s criminal investigation into his attempt to stay in power after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden. “Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment,” Trump wrote.

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While Trump is known for saying a lot of things on social media that are obviously not true, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman tweeted Tuesday that a source familiar with the matter had confirmed that Trump did indeed receive such a letter, which the Times reported is “a sign that he is likely to be indicted in the case.”

If this all sounds weirdly familiar to you, that’s because just last month, we learned that Smith had told Trump he was a target of the DOJ’s investigation into his handling of classified documents, a heads-up that occurred shortly before the ex-president was indicted on federal charges. As the Times notes, it’s “not clear what aspects of the sprawling investigation the letter may be related to,” as there are many to choose from; the probe has “examined an array of schemes that Mr. Trump and his allies had used to try to stave off defeat, including the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by his supporters at the Capitol.”

Witnesses have reportedly been asked “about the former president’s state of mind, as well as efforts to fund-raise off his false claims of widespread voter fraud and whether he knew he had lost.” Prosecutors have also “been scrutinizing efforts to put together slates of so-called fake electors to cast ballots in support of Mr. Trump when the electoral college tallies were certified.” Trump, of course, spent late 2020 and early 2021 insisting publicly that the election had been stolen from him, held an Oval Office meeting in which invoking martial law and seizing voting machines was discussed, and on January 6, 2021, told his supporters to march to the US Capitol, where some of them stormed the building while screaming “hang Mike Pence!” (Trump has said Pence deserved these chants calling for his hanging, and that, actually, January 6 was his fault.) The attack on the Capitol left five people dead.

Last week, we learned that, among others, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had testified before a federal grand jury, and that Kushner is thought to have said his impression was that Trump truly believed he had won the election. Over the weekend, former federal prosecutor turned GOP presidential hopeful Chris Christie insisted that Trump knew he lost, and that Kushner “doesn’t want to be disinvited to Thanksgiving…so he said what he needed to say.”

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In related news, Trump lost his bid this week to block Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis from investigating his attempt to overturn the election in Georgia. Willis has indicated an indictment may be coming in a matter of weeks.