Trump used 'power and authority' to pressure officials with bogus fraud claims

02 August 2023 , 02:26

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Trump is running for president for the third time (Image: AP)

Donald Trump has been accused of using the "power and authority" of the US Department of Justice to pressure officials into accepting his bogus claims of election fraud.

The revelations come as part of the latest indictment against the former-President. He is facing a four-count indictment - conspiracy to defraud the US; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.

The indictment claims the then-president allegedly used “deceit” to get election officials in seven states to “subvert the legitimate election results and change electoral votes.”

According to the indictment, part of the deceit was to use Justice Department

Prosecutors allege: "In late December 2020, the Defendant (Trump) attempted to use the Justice Department to make knowingly false claims of election fraud to officials in the targeted states through a formal letter under the Acting Attorney General's signature, thus giving the Defendant's lies the backing of the federal government and attempting to improperly influence the targeted states to replace legitimate Biden electors with the Defendant's."

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Rioters clash with police on January 6 2021 (AFP via Getty Images)

The content of the letter, which was described as "false" by the Acting Deputy Attorney General, attempted to undermine the election results by stating the DoJ had "significant concerns" about how the counts were carrried out. The letter also tried to enhance the legitimacy of "fraudulent electors" in place of the legitimate ones.

Among the 45 page indictment, prosecutors allege Trump: "and co-conspirators attempted to use the power and authority of the Justice Department to conduct sham election crime investigations."

Responding to the new charges, the Trump team put out a deranged statement, comparing his treatment to Nazi Germany.

The unhinged rant read: "The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes. President Trump has always followed the law and the Constitution, with advice from many highly accomplished attorneys."

Police detain someone during the January 6 riot (AFP via Getty Images)

Announcing the indictment, Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice Jack Smith described the January 6 riot as “an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy” that was “fueled by lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing the bedrock function of the US government admissions process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election."

Molly Gaston, an assistant US attorney, revealed the existence of an indictment to a federal magistrate. She did not say whom was indicted or for what. Trump is expected to appear in court in Washington DC on August 3.

Shortly before the indictment was unsealed, Mr Trump accused Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith's team of trying to interfere with the election with what he called "yet another Fake Indictment."

"Why didn't they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long?" he asked on his Truth Social site. "Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct!"

Charlie Jones