WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned on Tuesday that he had heard that Particular Counsel Jack Smith would announce an indictment in opposition to him at 5 p.m. (2100 GMT), in response to a put up on Trump’s Fact Social app.
Trump already faces legal costs in two different circumstances as he campaigns to regain the presidency subsequent yr. He’s the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, in response to public opinion polls, regardless of his authorized woes.
“I hear that Deranged Jack Smith, as a way to intervene with the Presidential Election of 2024, will probably be placing out yet one more Pretend Indictment of your favourite President,” he wrote on the social media web site.
Smith has been investigating allegations that Trump and his allies sought to overturn Democratic rival Joe Biden’s victory within the 2020 election.
Officers have testified that Trump pressured them based mostly on false claims of widespread voting fraud. His supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed bid to cease Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
Trump on July 18 mentioned he had acquired a letter from Smith telling him that he was a goal of the Jan. 6 grand jury investigation in Washington. He has characterised the probe, in addition to the opposite circumstances in opposition to him, as a part of a politically motivated witch hunt.
Smith, who was appointed as particular counsel in November by U.S. Lawyer Merrick Garland, beforehand charged Trump with unlawfully retaining categorised authorities paperwork after leaving workplace in January 2021 and obstructing justice.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward and Joseph Ax; Enhancing by Caitlin Webber and Howard Goller)