Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has received a letter from special counsel Jack Smith declaring him a target of a grand jury investigation into events leading to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that his attorneys notified him Sunday of the letter. He said it gave him four days to “report to the grand jury,” which he interpreted as a prelude to an indictment and arrest.
The ex-president fumed against Mr. Smith and said the specter of a criminal indictment amounts to election interference, pointing to his wide lead in early 2024 polling.
“Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before, or even close,” Mr. Trump wrote.
The ramifications of the document reported by Mr. Trump were not immediately clear, though target letters typically suggest prosecutors have gathered evidence linking a person to a crime and include instructions on next steps.
SEE ALSO: Republicans accuse Biden of targeting ‘top political opponent’ with federal prosecutors
Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel’s office, declined to comment.
Mr. Smith is investigating actions by Mr. Trump and his allies in the wake of the 2020 election.
Mr. Trump said the contest was rigged against him and that Congress should send back electoral vote counting to certain states. The claims reached a tipping point on Jan. 6, 2021, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol as lawmakers tried to certify President Biden’s victory.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, defended Mr. Trump’s actions in the wake of the election as a justified attempt to root out fraud. She said an indictment would be unfounded and that Mr. Trump would be cleared in court.
“We are worse than Russia. We are worse than China. We are worse than some of the most corrupt third-world countries, and this needs to end. It’s an absolute lie,” Ms. Greene said. “President Trump has [been] proven innocent time and time and time again, and he’ll be proven innocent again.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, New York Republican and chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, said it was “yet again another example of Joe Biden’s weaponized Department of Justice targeting his top political opponent, Donald Trump.”
Some of Mr. Trump’s foes within the Republicans said the possible indictment confirmed that the ex-president is unfit for office.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a staunchly anti-Trump Republican running for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination, challenged Mr. Trump casting himself as a victim.
“The real victims of Jan. 6 were our democracy, our rule of law, and those Capitol Police officers who worked valiantly to protect our Capitol,” Mr. Hutchinson said.
Mr. Trump’s legal team has not formally responded to the letter but Mr. Trump is not expected to offer testimony to the grand jury, according to a CNN report.
Mr. Smith secured a separate indictment for Mr. Trump’s alleged storage of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and efforts to thwart archivists who wanted the papers.
Mr. Trump faces 31 federal counts of willful retention of national defense information and a single count each of conspiracy to obstruct justice; withholding a document or record; corruptly concealing a document or record; concealing a document in a federal investigation; executing a scheme to conceal; and making false statements and representations.
The former president could face trial in Florida by December, though Mr. Trump wants an indefinite delay. His valet, Walt Nauta, also faces charges related to the movement of documents and representations he made to investigators.
In another case, Mr. Trump faces state charges in New York on 34 counts of falsifying business documents related to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal — who both alleged extramarital affairs with Mr. Trump — and to a doorman at Trump Tower who alleged Mr. Trump had a love child. Mr. Trump denied all of their claims.
Meanwhile, a prosecutor in Georgia is inching closer to a possible indictment of Mr. Trump over his bid to pressure Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to dig up enough votes to overtake Mr. Biden’s narrow victory in the state.
Grand jury selection started this month in Fulton County to determine whether District Attorney Fani Willis has sufficient evidence to bring election interference charges against Mr. Trump and his associates.
So far, Mr. Trump hasn’t suffered in primary election polls as a result of his legal troubles. Indeed, the former president is using the mounting cases to spur his 2024 bid, saying he is the victim of a two-tiered system of justice.
The situation is forcing his 2024 rivals into an awkward stance. They are hoping to leapfrog Mr. Trump in the primary while trying not to alienate Mr. Trump’s fervent base.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the top Republican challenger to Mr. Trump, took a balanced approach Tuesday by saying Mr. Trump could have done more to stem the violence on Jan. 6 while looking askance at criminal charges.
“I think it was shown how he was in the White House and didn’t do anything while, while things were going on. He should have come out more forcefully, of course,” Mr. DeSantis said. “But to try to criminalize that, that’s a different issue entirely, and I think that we want to be in a situation where, you know, you don’t have one side just constantly trying to put the other side in jail. And that unfortunately is what we’re seeing now.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washigtontimes.com.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.