What is Donald Trump's third indictment?

In yet another criminal investigation under Special Counsel Jack Smith, former US President Donald Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury for the third time in a case concerning his alleged role in preventing 2020 election results, as his legal woes continue to increase unabated.

According to the indictment, Donald Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

"The attack on our nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy," special counsel Jack Smith said in a press conference after filing the indictment.

“It was fueled by lies, lies by the defendant,” he said.

"Despite having lost, the defendant was determined to remain in power. So for more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won. These claims were false, and the defendant knew that they were false," the 45-page indictment read.

According to the indictment, there are six co-conspirators, four attorneys, a political consultant, and "a Justice Department official who worked on civil matters."

A statement from Trump's campaign denounced the probe calling counts "fake charges."

The Republican presidential forerunner has also been criticising Jack Smith, who is overseeing the investigations into Trump’s cases after taking over last November.

Here are some details about the criminal charges brought about against Donald Trump in the latest indictment.

Deceit

According to the prosecutors, Trump allegedly launched his scheme shortly after election day on November 3, 2020. After ten days, he was told that he lost Arizona and thus lost the election.

It is also alleged that Trump appointed one of the co-conspirators to "spearheaded his efforts going forward to challenge the election results."

"From that point on, the defendant and his co-conspirators executed a strategy to use knowing deceit in the targeted states to impair, obstruct, and defeat the federal government function," according to the indictment.

Prosecutors maintained that the 77-year-old former president and the co-conspirators allegedly targeted Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and organised fake electors, adding that some “fraudulent electors were tricked into participating."

The indictment noted examples where Trump tried to overturn the election results.

For instance, in Michigan, Trump met with elected officials from the state, in which he "raised his false claim" of illegitimate votes dumps, but he was rebuffed, indictment mentioned.

Moreover, it also included the January 2 telephone call with Georgia's Secretary of State in which Donald Trump "induced him to alter the state’s popular vote."

Donald Trump misusing authority

According to the indictment, Trump and his co-conspirators "attempted to use the power and authority of the Justice Department to conduct sham election crime investigations and to send a letter to the targeted states that falsely claimed that the Justice Department had identified significant concerns that may have impacted the election outcome [and] that sought to advance the Defendant's fraudulent elector plan by using the Justice Department's authority to falsely present the fraudulent electors as a valid alternative to the legitimate electors."

It further added that on December 31, 2020, Trump "repeatedly raised" his claims that there had been 205,000 more votes than voters in Pennsylvania with acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue.

"Each time, Justice Department responded that it was false," the indictment stated, with prosecutors maintaining that Donald Trump still "publicly repeated his knowingly false claim."

Mike Pence under pressure from Trump

The indictment also mentioned pressure on the then-vice president Mike Pence by Trump and his co-conspirators to use "his ceremonial role at the certification to fraudulently alter the election results."

It further maintained that between Christmas and January 3, 2021, the former president allegedly talked to Pence and reiterated his false claims about the vice president's role at the certification.

In a January 1, 2021 conversation, Trump criticised Pence for not complying.

"In response, the Defendant told the Vice President, 'You're too honest.'" Within hours of the conversation, the Defendant reminded his supporters to meet in Washington before the certification proceeding, tweeting, "The BIG Protest Rally in Washington, DC, will take place at 11:00am on January 6th. Locational details to follow. StopTheSteal!"

"During the meeting, as reflected in the Vice President's contemporaneous notes, the Defendant made knowingly false claims of election fraud, including, 'Bottom line-won every state by 100,000s of votes' and 'We won every state,'" the indictment said.

Trump met Pence several times with the same proposal but was refused. Trump allegedly "grew frustrated and told the VP that the Defendant would have to publicly criticize him," prosecutors noted.

"Upon learning of this, the Vice President's Chief of Staff was concerned for the Vice President's safety and alerted the head of the Vice President's Secret Service detail," the indictment said.

What did Donald Trump say on January 6?

The special counsel noted Trump's words at the rally before his supporters stormed the Capitol, specifically what he said about Mike Pence's role as evidence in furtherance of the scheme.

"The Defendant repeated false claims of election fraud, gave false hope that the Vice President might change the election outcome, and directed the crowd in front of him to go to the Capitol as a means to obstruct the certification and pressure the Vice President to fraudulently obstruct the certification," prosecutors wrote.

"I hope Mike is going to do the right thing. I hope so. I hope so," Trump said speaking to a group of supporters outside the White House on January 6, 2021.

"Because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election."

"A mass of people-including individuals who had traveled to Washington and to the Capitol at the Defendant's direction-broke through barriers cordoning off the Capitol grounds and advanced on the building, including by violently attacking law enforcement officers trying to secure it," the indictment said.