(14 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++VIDEO AS INCOMING++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Washington, DC – 1 August 2023
1. Pan, Special Counsel Jack Smith walks into briefing room
++SHOT CONTINUES++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jack Smith, Special Counsel:
"Good evening. Today, an indictment was unsealed charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. The indictment was issued by a grand jury of citizens here in the District of Columbia, and it sets forth the crimes charged in detail. I encourage everyone to read it in full."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Washington, DC – 6 January 2025
2. Then U.S. President Donald Trump speaking
3. Various of Trump supporters on steps of U.S. Capitol ahead of Capitol riot ++VIDEO AS INCOMING++
SENATE TV
Washington, DC – 6 January 2021
4. Wide shot of Senate floor as Vice President Mike Pence presides and begins to speak ++FADE AT SOURCE++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pence, U.S. Vice President:
"The Senate will come to order. The vice president as president of the Senate would like to give a brief statement with the indulgence of the senators. Today was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol. But thanks to the swift efforts of U.S. Capitol Police, federal, state and local law enforcement, the violence was quelled, the Capitol is secured and the people’s work continues. We condemn the violence that took place here in the strongest possible terms. We grieve the loss of life in these hallowed halls as well as the injuries suffered by those who defended our Capitol today." ++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Special counsel Jack Smith said his team “stood up for the rule of law” as it investigated President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, writing in a much-anticipated report released Tuesday that he stands fully behind his decision to bring criminal charges he believes would have resulted in a conviction had voters not returned Trump to the White House.
"The throughline of all of Mr. Trump’s criminal efforts was deceit — knowingly false claims of election fraud — and the evidence shows that Mr. Trump used these lies as a weapon to defeat a federal government function foundational to the United States’ democratic process,” the report states.
The report, arriving just days before Trump is to return to office on Jan. 20, focuses fresh attention on his frantic but failed effort to cling to power in 2020.
With the prosecution foreclosed thanks to Trump’s election victory, the document is expected to be the final Justice Department chronicle of a dark chapter in American history that threatened to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, a bedrock of democracy for centuries, and complements already released indictments and reports.
Trump responded early Tuesday with a post on his Truth Social platform, claiming he was “totally innocent” and calling Smith “a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election.” He added, “THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN!!!”
Trump had been indicted in August 2023 on charges of working to overturn the election, but the case was delayed by appeals and ultimately significantly narrowed by a conservative-majority Supreme Court that held for the first time that former presidents enjoy sweeping immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts.
The Justice Department transmitted the report to Congress early Tuesday after a judge refused a defense effort to block its release.
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