Donald Trump receives January 6th target letter from Jack Smith, indictment coming as soon as Thursday
Donald Trump announced today that on Sunday night he received a letter informing him that he is a criminal target in DOJ’s special counsel, Jack Smith’s January 6th criminal investigation. Given everything that’s taken place over the past week or two, this turn of events is completely unsurprising. Yet it’s still remarkable that the moment has now arrived.
Trump claims that he was given four days to report to the grand jury. This isn’t how things really work, as criminal targets cannot be required to testify against themselves to a grand jury. What Trump is probably trying to say is that he was given a four day deadline, if he chooses to show up and defend himself (spoiler alert: he won’t).
Trump got the notification on Sunday, and four days after that is Thursday. So this points to Jack Smith indicting Trump as soon as this Thursday. It doesn’t guarantee it’ll happen on that day. But Jack Smith does seem to be aiming for Thursday.
So what are the specific criminal charges that Donald Trump is facing this time? That’s not yet clear. But now that Trump is spilling the beans about the target letter, don’t be surprised if the actual details of the forthcoming indictment also become public within the next day or two. When it comes to January 6th, there are any number of criminal charges Trump can and will face.
