A federal grand jury empaneled in Washington, D.C. returned a new indictment on Tuesday evening in its ongoing investigation of the events following the 2020 election, including the events of and leading up to January 6, 2021.
But the grand jury's indictment delivered to a judge on Tuesday remained sealed, the indictment — obtained by Townhall — confirms that Donald J. Trump is the defendant.
The indictment lists four violations of which the 45th president is being accused:
Count 1: Conspiracy to Defraud the United States
Count 2: Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding
Count 3: Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding
Count 4: Conspiracy Against Rights
The indictment follows a meeting Trump attorneys had with prosecutors working for Special Counsel Jack Smith last week in which Trump's team was told to "expect an indictment." That admonition came after a prediction from Trump himself on July 18 that he would soon face another "arrest and indictment" from the J6 grand jury after the president was notified of his status as a "target" of the probe.
What's more, on Tuesday just before the sealed indictment was delivered, Trump took to Truth Social to say:
I hear that Deranged Jack Smith, in order to interfere with the Presidential Election of 2024, will be putting out yet another Fake Indictment of your favorite President, me, at 5:00 P.M. Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct!
In a longer statement released Tuesday afternoon, the Trump campaign said the indictment "is nothing more than the latest corrupt chapter in the continued pathetic attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their weaponized Department of Justice to interfere with the 2024 Presidential Election, in which President Trump is the undisputed frontrunner, and leading by substantial margins."
Trump's campaign asked "why did they wait two and a half years to bring these fake charges, right in the middle of President Trump’s winning campaign for 2024?" and wondering why it was "announced the day after the big Crooked Joe Biden scandal broke out from the Halls of Congress?"
Trump is expected to be arraigned in D.C. this Thursday.
Last week, Special Counsel Jack Smith announced a superseding indictment in the Florida-based case dealing with Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents that added a new defendant to the case as well as new counts against Trump for allegedly attempting to delete surveillance footage of Mar-a-Lago and sharing a plan of attack against a foreign country that he kept in his possession after leaving office.
Despite now facing separate legal proceedings over alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office, and his actions after the 2020 election, Donald Trump remains the dominant frontrunner in polls asking Republican voters who they prefer in 2024.
Still, the growing list of legal battles are costing Trump — and his supporters — millions of dollars. In the latest campaign finance disclosures filed by the Trump campaign, the former president's PAC said it spent more than $40 million on legal fees in the first half of 2023, an amount greater than the total raised by the Trump campaign over the same time period.
Earlier this summer, Trump became the first current or former president to be indicted on federal charges and, on Tuesday, he also became the first current or former president to be indicted twice on federal charges — while the Alvin Bragg hush money case moves ahead in Manhattan and the outcome of a probe in Georgia looms.
This is a developing story and may be updated.