By ERIC TUCKER (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump met Thursday with members of particular counsel Jack Smith’s group forward of a possible indictment over the previous president’s efforts to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election, in line with an individual conversant in the matter.
The assembly included Trump lawyer John Lauro, stated the individual, who spoke to The Associated Press on the situation of anonymity to explain a non-public gathering.
Trump himself confirmed the assembly in a submit on his Truth Social community, writing, “My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country.”
He added that “no indication of notice was given during the meeting.”
Trump, the front-runner within the 2024 Republican presidential main, was knowledgeable earlier this month by Smith’s workplace that he was a goal of the Justice Department’s investigation, suggesting that an indictment may very well be quickly.
The investigation has targeted on the turbulent two-month interval after the November 2020 election wherein Trump refused to simply accept his loss to Democrat Joe Biden and unfold lies that victory was stolen from him. The turmoil resulted within the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol, when Trump loyalists violently broke into the constructing, attacked law enforcement officials and disrupted the congressional counting of electoral votes. More than 1,000 folks have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Capitol riot.
In between the election and the riot, Trump urged native election officers to undo voting ends in their states, pressured Vice President Mike Pence to halt the certification of electoral votes and falsely claimed that the election had been stolen — even supposing quite a few federal and native officers, an extended record of courts, prime former marketing campaign staffers and even his personal lawyer basic have all stated there is no such thing as a proof of the fraud he alleges.
A spokesman for Smith declined to touch upon Thursday’s assembly. Lauro, Trump’s lawyer, didn’t instantly reply to a message looking for remark.
Trump was charged by Smith’s group final month with illegally hoarding labeled paperwork at his Palm Beach, Florida, property, Mar-a-Lago, and concealing them from investigators. He was additionally indicted in New York in March on expenses of falsifying enterprise data in reference to an alleged hush cash cost to a porn actor. And prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, are making ready to announce charging selections within the coming weeks associated to efforts to subvert the election in that state.
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Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”