The criminal charges against former President Donald Trump related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election are some of the most serious allegations facing him, one law professor told NPR.

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    1 year ago

    For some relevant info from the article, here’s a summary of the charges Trump is facing in Washington, D.C., for attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election:

    • one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States applies to Trump’s repeated and widespread efforts to spread false claims about the November 2020 election while knowing they were not true and for allegedly attempting to illegally discount legitimate votes all with the goal of overturning the 2020 election, prosecutors claim in the indictment.

    • one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding was brought due to the alleged organized planning by Trump and his allies to disrupt the electoral vote’s certification in January 2021.

    • one count of obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding is tied to Trump and his co-defendants’ alleged efforts after the November 2020 election until Jan. 7, 2021, to block the official certification proceeding in Congress.

    • one count of conspiracy against rights refers to Trump and his co-conspirators alleged attempts to “oppress, threaten and intimidate” people in their right to vote in an election.

    The charge of “conspiracy against rights” goes back to the Civil War era.

    It was passed after the Civil War as a way to stop members of the Ku Klux Klan and other similar organizations from intimidating, harassing and outright terrorizing Black voters especially in the South.