Irv Miller: Trump indictment in Jan. 6 investigation has broad scope, will take time to get to trial
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Former President Donald Trump has been indicted for a third time – this time in his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Mr. Trump was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury. He faces four charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.
Special counsel Jack Smith, in announcing the charges Tuesday, called what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, an "unprecedented assault" on democracy. "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."
The indictment says of Trump that despite having lost, he "was determined to remain in power." So, for over two months after the election, Trump "spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won," the indictment states, and adds, "These claims were false, and the defendant knew they were false," but "repeated and widely disseminated them anyway."
Mr. Trump and his co-conspirators allegedly "pushed officials to ignore the popular vote" and "organized fraudulent slates of electors" in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, according to the indictment. The indictment accuses Trump and his co-conspirators of using "knowingly false claims of election fraud" in organizing the fraudulent slates of electors.
Prosecutors allege Mr. Trump and his co-conspirators also attempted to use the power of the Justice Department to conduct "sham election crime investigations," and attempted to enlist then-Vice President Mike Pence to use his ceremonial role in affirming the electoral vote count on Jan. 6 to "fraudulently alter the election results." The indictment also alleges Trump repeatedly pressured Pence to fraudulently reject or return Mr. Biden's electoral votes.
CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller noted that the latest indictment covers a great deal of ground in terms of allegations that Mr. Trump tried to overturn the election.
"This indictment goes from November 14, 2020, up to the day that President Biden was sworn in. And we didn't know if this was going to be a narrow indictment or a broad indictment that covered a lot. Well, this one does cover a lot, from lying, to the certification, to trying to get the false electors involved in the case. It covers everything that the networks have talked about for the last several months – it's all in this indictment."
Mr. Trump is already supposed to stand trial on unrelated state criminal charges in New York in March, and on federal charges in Florida in May, over his handling of classified documents, during the height of primary season, and as it's coming to a close. Mr. Trump is also under investigation in Georgia over allegations of meddling with the 2020 election there.
While special counsel Smith is seeking a speedy trial in the latest indictment, Miller said he does not expect that to affect the other cases and investigations.
"It doesn't sound like he's had too much conversation with New York or Georgia up to this period of time, so I doubt that that's going to happen," Miller said. "I mean, this case is not going to go away on a speedy trial. It's going to take months to prepare. It's going to be a long trial because of the broad nature of this indictment, and I don't think that either Georgia or New York is going to give up what they think are successful prosecutions because the special prosecutor gives them a call."
The indictment accuses former President Trump of conspiring "to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate one or more persons in the free exercise and enjoyment of a right and privilege secured to them by the Constitution. Those words caught Miller's attention.
"It says it all – powerful. It's the last line in the indictment. It summarizes what this whole case is about – depriving the American citizens of the right to vote; the right to select their own government," Miller said. "It didn't have to say anymore to end this."
As to next steps, Miller said the conditions of bond will be something to watch. He said the immediate next step will be an initial court appearance in which Mr. Trump will be advised of his rights with a lawyer present.
"The issue is what conditions of bond the judge may want to put on him – because this is his third indictment. A typical defendant would be looking at being locked up – well, that's not going to happen. Electronic monitoring – that's not going to happen. I wouldn't be surprised if the judge said, 'I'm ordering him to surrender his passport,'" Miller said. "That's a message right there."
Six unnamed co-conspirators are alleged by the indictment to have been "enlisted" to assist Trump in "his criminal efforts to overturn" the election "and retain power."
"There are six co-conspirators that are talked about – not by name, but by their actions that they took. Frankly, I would have expected this indictment to have the names of these co-conspirators, but right now, they're not named. They're what we call unindicted co-conspirators. In the future, there could be a superseding indictment, which is a second indictment in the future, which could name these individuals as codefendants for this particular case as co-conspirators with Donald Trump."
Miller does not believe the trial of this case will be complete before the 2024 presidential election.
"Lawyers don't do anything quickly," Miller said. "This will not be tried before the election."
The Trump campaign said in a statement that the indictment was "the latest corrupt chapter in the continued pathetic attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their weaponized Department of Justice to interfere with the 2024 Presidential Election." The former president's campaign questioned why it took "two and a half years" to bring the charges, during the presidential campaign. It also claimed that Trump "always followed the law…with advice from many highly accomplished attorneys."
