Trump’s Legal Troubles: A Deep Dive into the January 6th Indictment
How the January 6th Insurrection and Legal Battles Shape Trump’s Current Crisis.
Former President Donald Trump faced another round of legal issues this week following a new 36-page indictment on Wednesday regarding his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. This comes despite last month’s Supreme Court ruling, which clarified that former presidents are immune from prosecution for actions within their official duties but can be prosecuted for private or unofficial acts.
“The superseding indictment, which was presented to a new grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in this case, reflects the Government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings and remand instructions,” wrote special counsel Jack Smith’s team in a statement.
These legal issues follow Trump's historic conviction in May on 34 felony counts related to his attempt to illegally influence the 2016 election by arranging a hush money payment. The new indictments also come during a turbulent and unprecedented election season that saw Donald Trump himself surviving an assassination attempt in July, during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. While the former president continues to downplay his administration’s role in the 2021 Jan.6 insurrection, the effects of 2020 election and January 6 still ripple through society.
False Claims of a Stolen Election
Following his loss in the 2020 election, Donald Trump used lies to spread claims that the election was stolen by Joe Biden. Claims were promoted that ranged from him asserting that rigged voting machines cost him the election, to fraud in the electoral college and international conspiracy. Following his loss in the 2020 election, Trump took to Twitter and said,
“700,000 ballots were not allowed to be viewed in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh which means, based on our great Constitution, we win the State of Pennsylvania!”
After losing Georgia, Trump claimed that the state didn’t verify signatures and that military ballots went missing.
Shortly after the 2020 election, the Department of Homeland Security addressed the then-incumbent president’s claims.
“There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised," the Election Infrastructure Committee said in a statement.
According to the original indictment, Trump began recruiting fake electors from seven battleground states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – to sign documents falsely claiming that he won those and not Joe Biden.
During this time, Trump and his allies also encouraged officials to throw out ballots they considered to be fraudulent. He had conference calls with 300 Republican state legislators to find ways to reverse the certified results in their states. He made pleas to both Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and the Pennsylvania Speaker of the House to overturn Biden’s wins in those states. Republican officials in seven states were directed by Trump’s attorney to create fraudulent electoral certifies to claim that Trump was reelected.
In the days leading up to the events of January 6, various Republican members of Congress signaled that they would challenge the certification of the results, then-Vice President Mike Pence acknowledged the effort by saying,
"I promise you, come this Wednesday, we will have our day in Congress".
A notable phone call between Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Donald Trump resulted in the former President pressuring the state official to “find” the 11,780 votes that he needed to overturn the states election results.
"What I want to do is this. I just want to find, uh, 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state,” Trump said during the phone call.
This phone call would later be used against Trump during this second impeachment, which made him the only president to have been impeached twice.
The Events of January 6, 2021
On January 6, 2021, Trump held a “Save America” rally on the National Mall in Washington D.C. While Congress was having a joint session to officially certify the 2020 election results, Trump was giving a speech riling up his supporters.
“All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by bold and radical left Democrats, which is what they are doing, and stolen by the fake news media. That is what they have done and what they are doing. We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved,” said Trump.
While the plan initially was for his supporters to remain at the National Mall until the counting of the electoral votes was complete, Trump repeatedly encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol.
“You'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated,” Trump said.
During this time pipe bombs were discovered near the Capitol. While supporters were chanting “Take the Capitol” and “Fight for Trump”, the Proud Boys had begun attacking the Capitol along with other groups such as the Oath Keepers. According to a report by Politico, pipe bombs were discovered 30 minutes apart at both the Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters.
Crowds of Trump supporters clashed with police officers on the Capitol steps and breached the building while Congress was in session. Government officials were removed at that point including Mike Pence and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the House and Senate both went into recess, but would resume shortly after. Trump refused to send in the National Guard during the attack as hundreds of supporters breached the Capitol, which earned him greater scrutiny.
Six deaths were attributed to the Capitol insurrection, including Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter who was killed by a Capitol police officer after attempting to breach the House Lobby. Four police officers who responded to the insurrection committed suicide in the months following the event.
The Aftermath
Following his second impeachment, Trump was later acquitted by the Senate. The Department of Justice in 2022 later opened their own investigation into the events of Jan.6 and Trump’s attempts to overturn the election. In the original indictment from August 2023, a grand jury in the U.S District Court indicted Trump on four charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to do so, and conspiracy against rights.
The new indictment omits some of Trump’s alleged activities due to the Court’s ruling on immunity, including his attempt to include the Justice Department in his claims of election fraud. However, the former president reacted to the new indictment on his social media site Truth Social, dismissing the new charges as “ridiculous,”
“In an effort to resurrect a “dead” Witch Hunt in Washington, D.C., in an act of desperation, and in order to save face, the illegally appointed “Special Counsel” Deranged Jack Smith, has brought a ridiculous new Indictment against me, which has all the problems of the old Indictment, and should be dismissed IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote.
Election Season
As the 2024 election season intensifies, the legacy of January 6 and Trump's legal battles are not just background noise—but are central to the narrative shaping voter attitudes and candidate strategies. Trump's promises to pardon January 6 participants, along with his party's rhetoric and fears around Project 2025, continue to galvanize his supporters as the 2024 election season unfolds.