Just hours before he will be arraigned by a federal judge on conspiracy and obstruction charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Donald Trump appeared to suggest if he wins the 2024 presidential election he will use the U.S. Dept. of Justice to go after President Joe Biden and Democrats.
Trump will be arraigned at 4:00 PM in the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. At that time he will face charges of: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and Conspiracy against rights.
He is expected to plead “not guilty.”
The full 45-page indictment can be read here.
Thursday morning on his Truth Social platform, Trump posted a statement that includes several falsehoods.
“Look, it’s not my fault that my political opponent in the Democrat Party, Crooked Joe Biden, has told his Attorney General to charge the leading (by far!) Republican Nominee & former President of the United States, me, with as many crimes as can be concocted so that he is forced to spend large amounts of time & money to defend himself. The Dems don’t want to run against me or they would not be doing this unprecedented weaponization of “Justice.” BUT SOON, IN 2024, IT WILL BE OUR TURN. MAGA!”
There is no evidence that President Biden in any way instructed Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute Trump. The Biden White House in July of 2021, issued a policy memo reestablishing and strengthening the wall between the Dept. of Justice and the White House. Attorney General Merrick Garland did the same.
Attorney General Garland is not prosecuting Trump. The Special Counsel who Garland appointed, Jack Smith, after an extensive investigation, asked a grand jury for and received an indictment against Trump. The grand jury indicted Trump, not Garland or Smith.
Trump is not the GOP nominee, he is a candidate for the nomination.
Even if Trump were to win the 2024 presidential election, he would not be president until 2025, not 2024.