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Politics
Gabriel J. Chin, Professor of criminal law, immigration and race and law, University of California, Davis

The most serious Trump indictment yet – a criminal law scholar explains the charges of using ‘dishonesty, fraud and deceit’ to cling to power

Special Counsel Jack Smith announces the second federal indictment of Donald Trump on Aug. 1, 2023. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

The Justice Department announced its second federal indictment of former president Donald J. Trump on Aug. 1, 2023. The charges are groundbreaking and not just because a former president is facing multiple criminal charges.

It’s because these are the first federal charges alleging a former president effectively attempted a particular kind of coup, called an auto-coup, in which he attempted to keep himself in power by illegal means.

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