Trump faces more legal threats beyond a hush money case. Here’s the status of those probes
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in November appointed Smith, a former federal prosecutor, as special counsel to take charge of two ongoing criminal investigations of Trump.
One of those probes is examining whether Trump or others unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, in which President Joe Biden defeated the incumbent Trump.
The investigation also is eyeing potentially illegal interference surrounding the certification of Biden’s electoral victory by a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump falsely asserted he won the 2020 contest. After the election, he spent weeks challenging his losses in key battleground states and spreading a wide array of baseless conspiracy theories about purportedly extensive election fraud.
As Congress was set to convene on Jan. 6 to confirm Biden’s victory, Trump staged a rally nearby and told a crowd of his supporters to “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol.
He also urged then Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over Congress that day, not to count some key votes for Biden.
And shortly after the proceedings began, a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol, forcing the vice president and hundreds of lawmakers to flee their chambers for safety.
More than 1,000 people so far have been arrested on charges related to the riot, the Department of Justice said in March.
Last week, Trump appealed a judge’s ruling ordering a number of his top White House aides to testify before a grand jury in Smith’s probe, according to NBC.
On Wednesday, NBC reported that Pence, who had previously vowed to challenge a special counsel subpoena for his testimony, would not appeal a judge’s recent order for him to comply with that demand.
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/05/trump-criminal-probes-stormy-daniels-mar-a-lago-election.html