Smith: Trump Jan. 6 indictment responds to plot ‘fueled by lies’

Special counsel Jack Smith previewed an indictment against Donald Trump, saying the former president’s efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election were “fueled by lies.”

“The attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies — lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election,” Smith said.

Smith’s comment came shortly after the Justice Department unveiled a 45-page indictment against Trump, charging him with conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to impede an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights, a statute protecting the right to vote.

Smith encouraged the public to read the indictment in full — the same plea he issued after bringing charges against Trump in the Mar-a-Lago case earlier this summer.

Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland last November to investigate “whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power.”

In his two-minute remarks, Smith also gave a nod to those who defended the building as it was being rushed by Trump supporters.

“They did not just defend a building or the people sheltering in it,” he said.

“They put their lives on the line to defend who we are as a country and as a people. They defended the very institutions and principles that define the United States.”