case type: criminal
Where: US District Court for the District of Columbia
Prosecutor: Jack Smith, DOJ special counsel
when: Unclear
In perhaps the biggest case against Trump, the Justice Department has been investigating a variety of plots that intersected with him in relation to the lead-up to the attack on the US Capitol. One such plot was the scheme to send fake electors from the states to Congress on January 6 in order to declare Trump the phony winner of the election. DOJ special counsel Jack Smith’s office has issued subpoenas to election officials in key states such as Arizona, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Another plot involves how Trump and his inner circle sought to pressure his vice-president, Mike Pence, to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory that day. There is also the question of how exactly Trump fit into the violence that unfolded at the Capitol after he’d urged his supporters to march there during his speech at the Ellipse. In late March, Smith’s office scored a huge victory in court when a judge ruled that several members of the Trump administration, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows, had to comply with subpoenas for grand-jury testimony. Pence must testify to a grand jury in the inquiry, per a judge’s ruling, but Trump is seeking an appeal to the decision.