Amid the Hollywood writers’ strike, Jack Smith, the special counsel, delivered a jolt of real-life drama. Late Tuesday afternoon, he dropped a four-count, 45-page conspiracy indictment on Donald Trump for his efforts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Six other unnamed conspirators also appear in the text. The charges go to the heart of our constitutional system.
“Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power,” the indictment charges. “So for more than two months following election day … the Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election that he had actually won. These claims were false, and Defendant knew that they were false.”
