Special counsel Jack Smith delivered a statement about Donald Trump's third indictment, which the thrice-indicted former one-term president received this afternoon. (See video below, posted by Republican Accountability.)
"Today, an indictment was unsealed charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding," Smith began a little after 6pm ET at a news briefing.
"The attack on our nation's Capitol on January 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," he continued.
"The men and women of law enforcement who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6 are heroes. They are patriots, and they are the very best of us. They did not just defend a building, or the people sheltering in it. 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."
Smith wrapped up his statement with an obligatory reminder that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty.
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