Attorneys representing Donald Trump have concluded a meeting with Special Counsel Jack Smith and his staff in a last-ditch bid to head off a third criminal indictment for the twice-impeached, already twice-indicted former president as he continues to campaign for a return to the White House in the 2024 election.
The former president confirmed the meeting on his Truth Social website shortly after 1.00 pm on Thursday, describing it as “productive” and stating that his legal team spent the session “explaining in detail that [he] did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of [him] would only further destroy our Country”.
Mr Trump, who on 18 July admitted that prosecutors had notified him that he is a target of Mr Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6 attack on the Capitol, is understood to be facing the possibility of charges under three federal criminal statutes: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, deprivation of rights under colour of law, and witness tampering.
While Mr Trump’s lawyers were reportedly told to expect that the grand jury will vote in favour of approving charges against him, the ex-president said “no indication of notice” was provided to his counsel and warned his followers against trusting legitimate news outlets which have reported that an indictment is imminent.
The grand jury could vote on charges against Mr Trump was understood to be meeting with the possibility of being asked to vote on Thursday, a source close to Mr Trump told The Independent that the ex-president’s defence team was not given any guidance on when an indictment might be returned, even though they were told one should be expected.
The ex-president is already a defendant in two other criminal matters that are set to go to trial next year — a case in his former home state of New York over falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to an adult film star in 2016, and a federal indictment brought against him in the Southern District of Florida for allegedly unlawfully retaining national defence information and obstructing justice. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Additionally, a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia is also expected to vote on charging Mr Trump and others in his orbit for crimes committed as he attempted to reverse Peach State election results after he became the first Republican presidential candidate in decades to lose there.
Mr Smith, who in November was appointed to supervise the multiple federal probes into the ex-president by US Attorney General Merrick Garland, has been presenting evidence to a Washington DC grand jury regarding Mr Trump’s efforts to remain in office despite having lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
The grand jurors, who meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays and were seen arriving at the E Barrett Prettyman courthouse around the same time Mr Trump’s lawyers were reported to have arrived at Mr Smith’s offices, have heard from numerous top ex-Trump administration officials, including former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, ex-Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Administration head Chris Krebs, and former vice president Mike Pence.
Mr Smith has also reportedly presented testimony from two top aides to Mr Pence, ex-counsel to the vice president Greg Jacob and the former VP’s longtime aide and ex-chief of staff Marc Short, on Mr Trump’s efforts to pressure Mr Pence into unilaterally rejecting electoral votes from swing states won by Mr Biden when he presided over a joint session of Congress to count electoral votes.
According to sources familiar with discussions among the ex-president’s inner circle, there is significant concern among Mr Trump’s aides over what testimony, if any, has been given to the grand jury by Mark Meadows, the ex-North Carolina congressman who served as Mr Trump’s final chief of staff.
Last month, The Independent previously reported that Mr Meadows had been cooperating with prosecutors under an agreement in which he’d receive a degree of immunity in exchange for testimony against Mr Trump and guilty pleas to several lesser federal offences.
At the time, Mr Meadows’ attorney pushed back strongly against the report that his client had pleaded guilty to any crimes, but did not address the matter of immunity or explicitly deny that his client was cooperating with prosecutors.
