Lawyers for former President Trump were meeting with Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team in Washington D.C. Thursday in anticipation of a possible federal indictment related to the investigation into Jan. 6, Fox News has learned.
The meeting was taking place on the same day that the federal grand jury was expected to meet at a federal courthouse in Washington.
Trump, who is leading the 2024 GOP presidential primary field, announced last week that he received a target letter from the Justice Department, which also asked that he report to the federal grand jury. Trump said he anticipated “an arrest and indictment.”
TRUMP SAYS HE IS DOJ JAN. 6 GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION TARGET
Former President Donald Trump reacts to crowd applause during a campaign event on July 1, 2023 in Pickens, South Carolina. The former president faces a growing list of primary challengers in the Republican Party. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
“They’re in a rush because they want to interfere. It’s interference with the election — it’s election interference,” Trump said during a town hall on Fox News with Sean Hannity last week. “Never been done like this in the history of our country, and it is a disgrace what’s happening to our country — whether it is the borders or the elections or kinds of things like this, where the DOJ has become a weapon for the Democrats.”
He added: “An absolute weapon.”
Smith has been investigating whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021.
TRUMP PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO 37 FEDERAL FELONY CHARGES IN CLASSIFIED RECORDS CASE
Special Counsel Jack Smith has promised a speedy trial for former President Donald Trump and noted defendants are presumed innocent. (Fox News screenshot/AP Photo)
On Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol during a joint session of Congress that was working to certify the Electoral College results in favor of President Biden.
The House of Representatives drafted articles of impeachment against Trump and ultimately voted to impeach him on a charge of inciting an insurrection for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — making him the first and only president in history to be impeached, and ultimately acquitted, twice.
The Senate voted to acquit, but had Trump been convicted, the Senate would have moved to bar the 45th president from holding federal office ever again, preventing a 2024 White House run.
Three men were arrested on charges alleging they clashed with police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Trump was indicted in June on charges stemming from Smith’s investigation into his alleged improper retention of classified records after his presidency. Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.
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That indictment was the first time in U.S. history that a former president had faced federal criminal charges.
