WASHINGTON – Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that he is a target of a federal investigation into the insurrection of Jan. 6. 2021, and could be indicted over the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In a written statement, Trump said Special Counsel Jack Smith has given him this week to appear before a grand jury and that “almost always means an arrest and indictment.”
The former president did not say whether he would appear before the grand jury and did not detail what specific charges may be pending. Trump said his attorneys spoke to him Sunday night about Smith’s target letter and said the prosecutor gave him four days to report to the grand jury.
What is a target letter?
The investigation centers around whether Trump incited supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, seeking to stop the Electoral College vote that made Joe Biden president.
A target letter is a document that prosecutors send to people under investigation, inviting them to testify about their actions and warning them that they could be subject to arrest and indictment.
Trump received a similar notice before his June 8 indictment on charges of obstruction of justice and mishandling classified documents. Smith also heads up that investigation.
Trump has denounced all the investigations as politically motivated.
‘Firmly in DOJ’s sights’
Former federal prosecutors familiar with these investigations said the target letter effectively serves as notification that Trump will be charged by the Department of Justice with criminal felonies.
“In a normal case, sending a target letter signifies someone is firmly in DOJ’s sights. Sending a target letter to the former president is virtual confirmation Jack Smith intends to charge him,” said Joyce White Vance, the former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.
Glenn Kirschner, a former senior federal prosecutor, told USA TODAY that this letter should be viewed “through the lens of the DOJ definition of a ‘target’ as found in the US Attorney’s manual, the federal prosecutors’ procedural bible.”
“A target is a person, one, for whom prosecutors have substantial evidence linking them to the commission of a crime and two, a person that the prosecutors view as a putative defendant,” he said. “Translation: A person the prosecutors intend to indict.”
