America's Talking - Trump Says DOJ Is Opening Criminal Probe Into Him Over Jan. 6

Episode Date: July 22, 2023

Former President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social Tuesday that Special Counsel Jack Smith informed him he is the target of a criminal probe related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. This update, which has not yet been confirmed by the U.S. Department of Justice, is the latest in a series of legal challenges for the former president. Trump released a lengthy statement on his social media site of choice laying out what he says was told to him. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/america-in-focus/support Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Greetings and welcome to America in Focus, powered by the Center Square. I am Dan McAulib executive editor of the Center Square Newswire Service. Joining me today is Casey Harper, the Center Square's Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief, a recording this on Friday, July 21st. Former President Donald Trump already facing criminal charges in the state of New York and also in federal charges in Florida related to the classified documents that he's, the classified documents that he had stored at Mar-a-Lago revealed this week that he is under another federal investigation. This one related to the January 6th riots at the capital. What's going on here?

You know, Dan, what's a federal investigation between presidential candidates these days? Just another one on the list. I mean, it's weird that there are so many you can't even keep track of them. We're a little light on details on this one. But, you know, Trump announced on true social, your favorite social media site this week, that special counsel Jack Smith has sent him a letter saying he is a target of a criminal probe related to the January 6th, you know, events around the Capitol there, which of course have been a sort of never-ending source of controversy in the U.S. So this is, you know, kind of separate from the classified documents investigation and the other kind of investigations or legal proceedings that Trump is a part of. The DOJ didn't immediately confirm it or give a lot of details on the kind of the nature of this, you know, but it's a big development.

We know that Trump could, I mean, you could kind of imagine the kind of things around insurrection, maybe some of the same things that he faced in the impeachment proceedings, which, you know, we know, where people basically said that he incited the insurrection, that he is responsible for it. You know, even calling it an insurrection is a little dubious too. I mean, what's the technical or the legal definition of that word? And did, you know, he crossed that line. So there's a lot of questions still on this, but it's the latest thing. And it could be have more teeth than some of these other investigations. And I think, you know, Trump has been complaining, interestingly, about how all these illegal court dates are basically election interference because he's going to spend the whole next year in court instead of campaigning, which is just kind of interesting too. Yeah, let me quote directly from part of his true social post regarding this latest investigation.

I won't go into the details where he name calls the prosecutor, but essentially said the Department of Justice sent a letter, quote, stating that I am a target of the January 6th grand jury investigation and giving me a very short four days to report to the grand jury, which almost always means an arrest and indictment. So President Trump, at least on his social media account, says he expects to be arrested and charged in that crime. In that case, there's a fourth investigation going on that we know of in Georgia related to his trying to say the 2020 election was rigged against him and then trying to influence the outcome of Georgia's vote. He's running for president, as you mentioned, Joe Biden, the current president, whose Department of Justice is investigating Donald Trump is running for president. It's just, it's crazy. It is crazy.

And, you know, we talked about this on another recent podcast, but I think people can't help but feel that there's some kind of double standard. When there's this many investigations, when they're all proceeding at different speeds, right, Dan, I mean, this is from January 6, 2020. So I guess my initial question is, why are we just now, it's 2023. And it's been three years. Why are we just now kind of hearing about this? I don't know. I know that sometimes legal proceedings take a while, but it just seems odd. It seems odd the way this has happened. And Trump's line, you know, his argument is, hey, it's because I announce I'm running for president again. And I'm the frontrunner. And now suddenly I have classified documents charges. suddenly I had January 6 charges.

Now, the other side would say, you know, Trump has always had problems with corruption. And he, everyone he's hired has been dubious and he's done all kinds of sketchy things. No wonder, this is all coming back. The chickens are coming home to roost, essentially. But I think it will have to see more of what these charges look like. But as you said, it's just, it's piling up. Right. And it's July 23.

The first presidential primaries are in January 2020. there are debate scheduled. There are obviously campaign season has already, so all of these investigations and all of these revelations are going to be ongoing during the heaviest part of the presidential campaign. It's going to be interesting. Certainly there's going to be plenty of more developments. We'll just have to see how it plays out. Anything to close with Casey? Yeah, I mean, I will just chime in on the political angle here. I think in the primary, this does nothing bad for him. Maybe it helps him. I think, Republican primary voters are thoroughly convinced that federal law enforcement, like the FBI,

is totally corrupt and biased against Republicans, at least at the levels where it's relevant. Maybe not the drug enforcement wing of the FBI, right? But there's enough anti-Republican, anti-Trump bias in the FBI in the Republican primary voters' mind to make this just a bogus investigation. And they point to kind of a double standard for that Trump and Biden have received. So I don't think any Republican primary voters at this point are going to be swayed by these investigations. You know, maybe a handful, but it seems they've only bolstered Trump over DeSantis since they've come out. But they could definitely have an impact in the general election.

And that's where with independent voters, it's really going to come down to. What do independent voters think about these investigations? Did they think they're legitimate or do they think they are kind of a partisan attack to take Trump out? Interesting. And my closing statement, just as we're talking about this very case, Casey, I just got a breaking news alert that the Trump classified documents trial will begin in May of next year in Florida. Oh, Roy. So he's going to, as it's scheduled now, of course, anything can change.

He's scheduled to go on trial in the heart of primary season. Anyway, we are out of time. Least listeners can keep up with this story and more at thecentersquare.com for Casey Harper. I'm Dan McKeelip. Please subscribe.