Lawyers for former US president Donald Trump on Thursday met officials in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, as federal prosecutors edged closer toward bringing an indictment against Mr Trump in connection with his wide-ranging efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to three people familiar with the matter.
It was not immediately clear what subjects were discussed at the meeting or if Mr Smith took part. But similar gatherings are often used by defence lawyers as a last-ditch effort to argue against charges being filed or to convey their version of events in a criminal investigation.
The former president’s legal team – including Todd Blanche and a newly hired lawyer, John Lauro – have been on high alert since last week, when prosecutors working for the special counsel sent Mr Trump a so-called target letter in the election interference case. It was the clearest signal that charges could be coming.
The letter described three potential counts that Mr Trump could face: conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding and a Reconstruction-era civil rights charge that makes it a crime to threaten or intimidate anyone in the “free exercise or enjoyment” of any right or privilege provided by the constitution or by federal law.
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Another team of lawyers working at the time for Mr Trump had a similar meeting with officials at the justice department last month, days before prosecutors led by Mr Smith filed an indictment in Florida charging the former president with illegally holding on to 31 highly sensitive classified documents after leaving the White House.
The indictment in the Florida case, which is set to go to trial in May, also accused Mr Trump of conspiring with one of his personal aides, Walt Nauta, to obstruct the government’s repeated attempts to retrieve the classified documents.
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If Mr Trump is charged in connection with his efforts to reverse his election loss, it would be an extraordinary moment in which a former president – and current presidential candidate – stood accused of using the powers of his own government to remain in office against the will of the voters.
Mr Trump, the current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has already been charged not only in the classified documents case but also by the Manhattan district attorney, who has accused him of dozens of felonies related to hush-money payments made to an adult film actress in the run-up to the 2016 election.
Mr Trump also faces scrutiny from the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, who is investigating his efforts to bend the results of the 2020 election in that state in his favour.
– This article originally appeared in the New York Times.
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