By Gregory Korte
Former President Donald Trump said Monday he assumes he will be indicted “any day now,” as the grand jury investigating his involvement in attempts to overturn the 2020 election wraps up its work in Washington.
In a social media post, he protested that the investigation into the events of Jan. 6, 2021 was an attempt to interfere with the 2024 election as he solidifies his wide polling lead for the Republican presidential nomination.
Trump said earlier this month that he had received a target letter in the probe, inviting him to testify before the grand jury and signaling that an indictment is likely. The grand jury meets twice a week, and an indictment could come as soon as the Tuesday session.
It’s unclear what charges Trump may face. Special Counsel Jack Smith is investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol as Congress was meeting to certify the results of the 2020 election — which followed a speech by Trump just outside the White House grounds where he urged supporters to “fight like hell” and to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
“I assume that an Indictment from Deranged Jack Smith and his highly partisan gang of Thugs, pertaining to my ‘PEACEFULLY & PATRIOTICALLY’ Speech, will be coming out any day now, as yet another attempt to cover up all of the bad news about bribes, payoffs, and extortion, coming from the Biden ‘camp,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his media platform.
“This seems to be the way they do it. ELECTION INTERFERENCE! PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT!” he said.
The charges could also include efforts to submit slates of fake presidential electors that would vote for Trump in states where he lost the popular vote.
Trump is already under federal indictment for allegedly mishandling classified materials and in New York state over hush money payments to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election.
A New York Times/Siena College poll Monday showed Trump’s legal issues haven’t hurt his standing among Republican primary voters, with Trump now leading the second-place Republican candidate, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, by 37 percentage points.