Former president Donald Trump said Tuesday afternoon that he expects he will be indicted at 5 p.m. on federal charges after an investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his actions leading up to the January 6 Capitol riot by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he heard “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!” Trump added.
The possible indictment comes weeks after the former president said he had received a target letter in the probe. While it was not immediately clear what charges Trump might face, the House select committee that investigated the Capitol riot previously made referrals to the Department of Justice on four charges: inciting or aiding an insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and conspiracy to make a false statement.
“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 in a post on Truth Social last month.
He participated in a town hall with Fox News’ Sean Hannity in Iowa later that day, where he told the pro-Trump crowd that the letter “bothers” him.
“I got the letter on Sunday night. Think of it. I don’t think they’ve ever sent a letter on Sunday night,” Trump said. “And they’re in a rush, because they want to interfere. It’s interference with the election. It’s election interference. Never been done like this in the history of our country, and it’s a disgrace.”
Trump is already facing 42 felony counts as a result of special counsel Jack Smith’s separate investigation into the former president’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. Before that, Trump was indicted in Manhattan on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush-money payment to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.
He is also facing a separate criminal investigation by a Georgia state prosecutor into his alleged efforts to influence the 2020 election results in the Peach State. Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis signaled that she plans to decide whether to bring charges in the case sometime this month.
In recent weeks, Trump’s 2024 Republican challengers have had mixed reactions to the news that Trump could be indicted for a third time.
Former vice president Mike Pence, who was in the Capitol on January 6 as the then-president’s supporters called for him to be hanged, reacted to the news around the target letter by saying Trump’s actions were “reckless” but that he hopes the president will not be indicted.
“I’m not convinced that the president acting on the bad advice of a group of crank lawyers that came into the White House in the days before Jan. 6 is actually criminal,” said Pence, who has testified before the grand jury in the case.
“I don’t know what the letter today means, the notification means, but my hope is that the judgment about the president’s actions on Jan. 6 would be left to the American people,” he added.
Asa Hutchinson, who has been one of the most vocal critics of Trump in the race, instead reiterated his call for the twice-indicted former president to drop out of the race.
“While Donald Trump would like the American people to believe that he is the victim in this situation, the truth is that the real victims of January 6th were our democracy, our rule of law, and those Capitol Police officers who worked valiantly to protect our Capitol,” he said in a statement. “Anyone who truly loves this country and is willing to put the country over themselves would suspend their campaign for President of the United States immediately. It is disappointing that Donald Trump refuses to do so.”