Former President Donald Trump faces new federal charges, and a major pharmacy chain lets go thousands of its employees amid a company restructuring. These stories and more highlight The Rundown for Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023.
Former President Trump faces new federal charges
Special Counsel Jack Smith announced new federal charges against Trump on Tuesday, Aug 1. The former president was indicted for attempts to overturn the 2020 election. This is the third time in four months Trump has been criminally charged.
The four-count, 45-page indictment charges Trump in three criminal conspiracies. The first accuses him of a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. using “dishonesty, fraud and deceit.”
Trump was also accused of attempting to obstruct the election’s official proceeding, specifically with the counting of Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021. The third conspiracy regarded disenfranchising voters.
Prosecutors said Trump pressured state and federal officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, to alter election results. Trump is currently the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential election. His team issued a response to the latest charges on Truth Social.
“The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes,” the statement read. “These un-American witch hunts will fail and President Trump will be re-elected to the White House so he can save our country from the abuse, incompetence, and corruption that is running through the veins of our country at levels never seen before.”
The former president is due in federal court in Washington on Thursday.
Media outlets report on likely co-conspirators
The federal indictment also included six unnamed co-conspirators who have not been charged. They are accused of helping Trump in the alleged crimes.
Numerous media outlets have reported on who these six people likely are based on the descriptions in the indictment. The media outlets include Reuters, ABC News, CNN, The New York Times, The Hill, and The Wall Street Journal. According to reports, the descriptions in the documents indicate the co-conspirators include:
- Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani
- Trump lawyer John Eastman
- Trump lawyer Sidney Powell
- Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro,
- Former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark
These outlets say the identity of the sixth person is unclear. This person is described in the indictment as “a political consultant who helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding.”
