Former US president Donald Trump said Tuesday he has received a letter from prosecutors suggesting he is likely to be criminally indicted over the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.
“Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter… stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6 Grand Jury investigation,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
The former president, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said he received the letter on Sunday and was given “a very short four days” to report to a grand jury, “which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.”
“This witch hunt is all about election interference and a complete and total political weaponization of law enforcement,” Trump said. “It is a very sad and dark period for our Nation!”
Smith, the special counsel, has previously charged Trump, 77, with mishandling top secret government information after leaving the White House.
According to the accusation, Trump stored the files, which included sensitive documents from the Pentagon, CIA, and National Security Agency, unprotected at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.
The judge presiding over the papers lawsuit will convene a hearing later Tuesday to establish a trial date.
Prosecutors have requested that the trial begin in December, but Trump’s defense counsel have requested that it begin after the November 2024 presidential election.
Multiple Probes
Smith has also been looking into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, as well as his supporters’ January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in an attempt to prevent congressional certification of Biden’s triumph.
Georgia authorities are also looking into whether Trump attempted to illegally overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in the southern state.
In his Truth Social post, Trump argued that he has “the right to protest an Election that I am fully convinced was Rigged and Stolen” and said he was being targeted because of the upcoming election.
The Justice Department has “effectively issued a third indictment and Arrest of Joe Biden’s NUMBER ONE POLITICAL OPPONENT, who is largely dominating him in the race for the Presidency,” Trump said.
“Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before, or even close.”
According to The Washington Post, a target letter does not necessarily mean charges will be brought against the recipient. In his Truth Social post, Trump did not specify what any potential charges against him might be.