Donald Trump is demanding that his “fake” criminal case over his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election be moved out of Washington DC to “unbiased” West Virginia.
In a late-night Truth Social rant on Wednesday, the former president fumed that it is “IMPOSSIBLE to get a fair trial” in the US capital and demanded it be relocated to “the politically unbiased nearby State of West Virginia”.
“The latest Fake “case” brought by Crooked Joe Biden & Deranged Jack Smith will hopefully be moved to an impartial Venue, such as the politically unbiased nearby State of West Virginia!” he wrote.
“IMPOSSIBLE to get a fair trial in Washington, D.C., which is over 95% anti-Trump, & for which I have called for a Federal TAKEOVER in order to bring our Capital back to Greatness.
“It is now a high crime embarrassment to our Nation and, indeed, the World. This Indictment is all about Election Interference!!!”
The former president is scheduled to appear in Washington DC’s E Barrett Prettyman Courthouse on Thursday for his arraignment on charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and role in the events leading up to the January 6 Capitol riot.
A grand jury, which has spent months hearing evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, returned a federal indictment on Tuesday hitting him with four federal charges: 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.
The indictment marks Mr Trump’s second federal indictment, his third criminal indictment overall – and potentially his most serious.
The former president is accused of conspiring with his allies to overturn the 2020 election, in a bid to sabotage the vote of the American people.
The Justice Department alleges that Mr Trump and his circle of co-conspirators knew that he had lost the election but launched a multi-prong conspiracy to do everything they could to enable him to cling to power.
This included spreading “knowingly false claims of election fraud to get state legislators and election officials to subvert the legitimate election results and change electoral votes for the Defendant’s opponent, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., to electoral votes for the Defendant”, the indictment states.
Former President Donald Trump gestures after speaking during the North Carolina Republican Party Convention in June 2023— (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Mr Trump and his allies also allegedly plotted to send slates of fake electors to seven “targeted states” of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin which President Joe Biden had won – to get them to falsely certify the election for Mr Trump.
The indictment also alleges Mr Trump tried to use the DOJ to “conduct sham election crime investigations”, sending letters to the seven states claiming that “significant concerns” had been found in the elections in those states.
As well as the false claims about the election being stolen from Mr Trump, the scheme also involved pushing false claims that Vice President Mike Pence had the power to alter the results – and pushing Mr Pence to “fraudulently alter the election results”.
When Mr Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol in a violent attack that ended with five deaths, Mr Trump and his co-conspirators “exploited” the incident by “redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud and convince Members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims,” the indictment claims.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Smith placed the blame for the January 6 attack on the US Capitol firmly on Mr Trump’s shoulders.
“The attack on our nation’s capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” he said.
“As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the US government – the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.”
While the former president is the only person charged in the case, the indictment also refers to six co-conspirators who worked with him to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Workers put up barricades outside the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Federal Courthouse on Wednesday— (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
The six individuals – four attorneys, one Justice Department official and one political consultant – have not been named in the charging documents because they have not yet been charged with any crimes.
However, based on the details in the indictment and records already known about the events leading up to the Capitol riot, the identities are apparent as Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Kenneth Chesebro and Boris Epshteyn.
Mr Trump is expected to surrender to authorities at the DC courthouse at 4pm ET where he will be arraigned before Magistrate Judge Moxila A Upadhyaya.
The former president does have the option of appearing virtually – instead of in-person – but is expected to travel to the US capital for the hearing.
Security has been ramped up outside the courthouse in anticipation of his appearance.
