WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s a target of a federal investigation into the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021 and could be indicted over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
In a statement on Truth Social, Trump wrote that he received a letter from Special Counsel Jack Smith − who is overseeing the investigation − giving him four days to report to the grand jury.
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, who has been closely following multiple investigations into Trump, told USA TODAY that Justice Department target letters are general, usually not including any specific charges a person might face.
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Last year, a bipartisan House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack recommended that the Department of Justice charge Trump with insurrection, obstruction and conspiracy, among other potential charges.
The final report published by the committee highlighted key moments from a speech that Trump gave to supporters at a rally on the Ellipse, a park near the White House, falsely claiming that the 2020 election was stolen and telling the crowd to head to the Capitol as it was certifying the election results.
Here’s what you need to know about Trump’s Jan. 6 speech and what legal experts say its role could be in a potential indictment.
What did Trump say in his speech on Jan. 6?
The Jan. 6 committee wrote in its final report that Trump was allegedly aware that the crowd he addressed in Washington was angry and “elements of the crowd were armed, and had prohibited items, and that many thousands would not pass through the magnetometers for that reason.”
Officials noted that Trump told supporters “you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. . . . And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
The report also says Trump targeted former Vice President Mike Pence “leading the crowd to believe falsely” that he could alter the election outcome. The Constitution does not allow the vice president to change or reject votes as Congress certifies the results of a presidential election.
Trump also urged his supporters to walk to the Capitol, saying “we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you.”
“We’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them,” Trump added.
Will the speech play a role in a possible indictment?
Marc Scholl, who served as a criminal prosecutor in New York, told USA TODAY it wasn’t the individual words Trump used in his speech, but the tone of his message that mustered up the crowd.
“He was speaking to a large, excitable crowd, and the entire speech was designed to make that crowd angry…once Trump raised the temperature with trigger words like fight and stolen, a phrase here or there about being peaceful becomes irrelevant.” Scholl said.
He added that any indictment will not be limited to the Jan. 6 speech, but that officials would focus on a range of factors, including what led up to it; claims of election theft; false, alternative electors and more.
“The prosecution will likely argue that the January 6 mob was the product of a recipe that had many ingredients and cooking steps in its preparation,” Scholl said.
Other legal experts said the Jan. 6 speech might not be of much relevance in a potential indictment.
“The speech was just a call to arms at that point, but I do not anticipate it crossed the line sufficiently to warrant a charge of insurrection or seditious conspiracy,” Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer, told USA TODAY. “Nor do I suspect Jack Smith wants to mess with the First Amendment implications of trying to bring that charge in this context when he really does not need to given his other charging options.”
Moss pointed to Trump’s efforts to pressure officials to recalculate state votes, to call on Pence to block the election results and more as factors forming the crux of Trump’s criminal exposure.
David Super, a constitutional law expert at Georgetown University, said that he doubts Trump’s January 6 speech will play a central role in the indictment.
“If the prosecutors can prove that he had a broad conspiracy to steal the election, the particular turns of phrase in his speech on January 6 will not matter nearly as much,” Super said.
