Accusations of conspiracy to overturn election loss/ Former President Trump pleads not guilty

2023-08-04 07:26:05, Kosova & Bota CNA

Accusations of conspiracy to overturn election loss/ Former President Trump

Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he orchestrated a plot to overturn his loss in the 2020 United States presidential election.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led the investigation into what U.S. prosecutors called an unprecedented effort by the then-president to undermine the pillars of American democracy, watched from the front row of a Washington courtroom this afternoon. Thursday (local time), as Trump pleaded not guilty, standing before Judge Moxila Upadhyaya.

Trump's court appearance, which lasted about half an hour, on August 3, took place just one kilometer from the United States Congress building, which his supporters attacked on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop the certification of his election defeat by the US legislature.

Trump's not guilty plea — his third in four months — has set off a months-long legal battle that will run into the 2024 presidential campaign. Trump is favorite to secure the nomination from the Republican Party to challenge the current president from the ranks of the Democratic Party, Joe Biden.

In a 45-page indictment released Tuesday, Smith accused Trump and his allies of supporting false claims that the 2020 election was rigged, pressuring state and federal officials to change the results and they received electoral votes for Biden.

Trump, 77, is accused of, among other things, conspiracy to defraud the United States, depriving citizens of their right to have their votes counted, and obstructing an official process. The most serious charge carries a 20-year prison sentence.

The next hearing in the trial will be on August 28, before Judge Tanya Chutkan, although Upadhyaya has said that Trump is not obliged to attend. Chutkan intends to set a date for Trump's trial that day, Upadhyaya said.

The August 28 hearing will take place five days after the first scheduled debate between the Republican presidential candidates. Trump has not yet said whether he will attend.

Trump has described the indictment, as well as the other criminal cases against him, as a "witch hunt" aimed at hindering his campaign to return to the White House. In a series of social media posts on Tuesday, he accused the Biden administration of marking him for political poetry.

He previously pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he withheld classified documents after leaving office, while New York state accuses him of falsifying documents related to buying the silence of a porn actress.

Trump could also face other charges - in Georgia, state prosecutors are investigating his efforts to overturn the election result there. The prosecutor from the Atlanta area, Fani Willis, has said that she will file a lawsuit in mid-August.

" I need more charges to secure the election ," Trump wrote on his platform, Truth Social, before appearing in court on Thursday.

About half of Republicans said they would not vote for Trump if he were convicted of a crime, according to a new poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos, highlighting the potential dangers his legal troubles pose to his candidacy.

But, the same survey, conducted after Tuesday's indictment, has also demonstrated his stability in the race within the Republican party.

Poll results showed he now enjoys the support of 47 percent of Republicans, doubling his lead over the runner-up in the race, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, who has the support of 13 percent of Republicans.

Three-quarters of Republicans have said they agree that the accusations against Trump are "politically motivated", which shows that the former US president's claim that he is a victim of political persecution enjoys support among his supporters.

The vast majority of Republican leaders, including some who are running against Trump to secure the White House nomination, have either defended him or mildly criticized him as they accused President Biden's administration of using the Justice Department as weapon against an electoral opponent.

Many of the allegations in Tuesday's indictment have been well documented in media reports and in the investigation conducted by a select committee of the US House of Representatives.

But the indictment contained some previously unknown details, including some based on grand jury testimony and notes from former Vice President Mike Pence, who is also vying to secure the Republican nomination for president.

The indictment describes a phone conversation in which Pence told Trump there was no legal basis for the theory that Pence could block the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.

" You are very honest ," Trump replied, according to prosecutors.

Although Pence has repeatedly told Trump he lacked the authority to throw out electoral votes from certain states, Trump has continued to reiterate his position.

On January 6, while talking to his supporters, before they attacked the US Congress building, Trump said: "If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election." Some attackers at the Congress building would later chant: "Hang Mike Pence!".

Far from being disturbed by the violence, Trump and an unidentified associate continued to call Republican members of Congress, hours after the riots ended, still determined to block the certification of the election result, the indictment said.

" We need you, our Republican friends, to try to stop him ," the associate said in a voice message on the phone of a US senator, according to prosecutors. The description of the accomplice in the indictment hints at Rudy Giuliani, Trump's former personal attorney, Reuters reports.

Pence was one of the few Republicans to criticize Trump on Tuesday, saying that "anyone who puts themselves above the Constitution should never be president"./ REL