Donald Trump is facing four criminal charges relating to attempts to overturn the 2020 election result as prosecutors try to tie him to the January 6 storming of the US Capitol building by his supporters.
The 45-page court document focuses on alleged schemes by the former Republican president and his allies to subvert the transfer of power and keep him in the White House despite his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump has maintained the result of the November 2020 election was incorrect, with many of his supporters and confidants also expressing doubts about the vote.
But special counsel Jack Smith has alleged Trump’s lies “fuelled” the January 6 insurrection in Washington DC in 2021 where rioters attacked the Capitol in a bid to stop Congress from certifying the election result.
And prosecutors also claim he “exploited” the assault by refusing his advisers’ suggestion to send a message directing the rioters to leave the building, after a rally and fiery speech by him earlier that day.
Image: Donald Trump holds a rally on January 6 2021 before the US Capitol riot
Trump has been summoned to appear before a federal magistrate judge in the city on Thursday. It is the third time in four months he has been criminally charged even as he campaigns to regain the presidency next year.
The latest indictment alleges he conspired to prevent politicians from certifying Mr Biden’s victory and to deprive voters of their right to a fair election.
Five people died during or after the attack, including four protesters and one police officer, and about 140 officers suffered injuries, according to the Department of Justice (DoJ).
Trump faces four charges:
• Conspiracy to defraud the US
• Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
• Obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct, an official proceeding
• Conspiracy against rights.
Prosecutors have stated Trump lost the 2020 election but he was “determined to remain in power” and for two months he “spread lies” that there had been fraud and that he had won.
“These claims were false and the defendant knew they were false… but the defendant repeated and widely disseminated them anyway”, said the indictment.
Image: Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol following a rally on January 6 2021. Pic. AP
Prosecutors claimed that in the weeks before the January 6 vote, Trump falsely told his then vice-president Mike Pence at least three times he had the authority to reject the electoral results, even though Mr Pence pushed back every time.
Trump also allegedly organised a plan to get fake electors in seven states, all of which he lost, to submit their votes to be counted and certified as official by Congress on January 6.
The DoJ alleges Trump “pursued unlawful means” of “discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results” through three criminal conspiracies.
It said one conspiracy was to defraud the US by using dishonesty, fraud and deceit to “obstruct the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the election”.
The DoJ said the second conspiracy was to impede the January 6 congressional proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are counted and certified.
The third alleged conspiracy was against the right to vote and to have the vote counted, the department said. The indictment also alleged Trump “attempted to, and did, corruptly obstruct and impede the certification of the electoral vote”.
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How chaos unfolded at the US Capitol
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Politicians evacuate House chamber
Earlier, Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform: “I hear that deranged Jack Smith, in order to interfere with the presidential election of 2024, will be putting out yet another Fake Indictment of your favourite president, me, at 5pm.
“Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial misconduct!”
Mr Trump’s latest charges add to his ongoing legal woes, with recent court appearances in Miami and New York.
In Miami, Mr Trump pleaded not guilty to allegations that he unlawfully kept national security documents when he left office and lied to officials, trying to recover them.
He also pleaded not guilty in New York to 37 charges, relating to falsifying business records “in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election”.
Mr Trump is also counter-suing E. Jean Carroll, who alleged he raped her in the 1990s – he was found guilty of sexually assaulting and defaming her, but not raping Ms Carroll in a civil case.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has pleaded guilty to one count of espionage as part of a plea deal with US authorities.
The agreement means Assange will be sentenced to time already served in a British prison.
His court appearance took place on the US territory of Saipan. He left the UK on Monday after being released on bail from Belmarsh high security jail.
The US request to extradite Assange on spying charges has been dropped and he is expected to fly to his home country of Australia shortly to be reunited with his wife and children.
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Julian Assange is travelling to his native Australia on a private jet after US authorities agreed to drop their demand for the WikiLeaks founder to be extradited from the UK having struck a plea deal with him.
Assange had to pay $500,000 (£394,000) for a chartered flight from Stansted to Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands – a US commonwealth in the Pacific – where he will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information.
In exchange he will be sentenced to time served – the 62 months he has already spent in a British prison – according to court documents.
Image: Assange at the airport after leaving prison. Pic: WikiLeaks
Once the guilty plea has been accepted by a judge, the 52-year-old will be free to return to Australia, the country of his birth.
The chartered flight stopped in Bangkok for refuelling on its way to Saipan.
Assange is accompanied by a WikiLeaks lawyer, a representative of the Australian government and a medic to check on his health.
American prosecutors had alleged Assange put lives at risk when he helped former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files WikiLeaks put online in 2010.
He had been locked in a legal battle in the UK over his extradition, which included him entering the Ecuadorean Embassy in London in 2012 prior to his detention in Belmarsh prison – where he has been since May 2019.
‘Julian is free!’
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In a post on X, WikiLeaks said Assange left Belmarsh on Monday morning after being granted bail by the High Court. By the afternoon he was at Stansted Airport where he boarded a plane and left the UK.
“After more than five years in a 2×3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day, he will soon reunite with his wife Stella Assange, and their children, who have only known their father from behind bars,” the organisation said.
Image: Stella Assange with her children, Max and Gabriel, marking Julian’s 50th birthday back in 2021. Pic: Reuters
Mrs Assange shared on social media a video montage of her husband in a car and then boarding a plane.
She wrote: “Julian is free!!!!
“Words cannot express our immense gratitude to YOU – yes YOU, who have all mobilised for years and years to make this come true. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.”
She posted on X to say Assange will owe $520,000 to the Australian government for the charter flight and asked for donations to help pay for it.
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Speaking from Australia, Mrs Assange told the PA news agency: “It is hard to believe that Julian has been in prison for so long. It had become normalised. I am grateful to the people who made this possible but I am also angry that it ever came to this.
“Overall I am elated but I cannot believe it is actually happening until I see Julian.”
Mrs Assange said her husband would not have been released without the intervention of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has been increasingly vocal in his demands for the US to drop charges against Assange.
“The public climate has shifted and everyone understands that Julian has been the victim,” she said.
“Things are still very sensitive. Julian is paying for the flight so we will launch a fundraising campaign.”
She said she had travelled to Australia with the couple’s two young sons, Gabriel and Max, on Sunday when it became clear Assange would be freed.
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Image: Stella Assange speaking in London on 26 March. Pic: PA
WikiLeaks shared an update on Assange’s journey on X, posting a picture of him on a jet as it approached Bangkok for a stopover.
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Assange’s plea and sentencing on Saipan are scheduled for Wednesday morning local time (Tuesday evening UK time).
The hearing is taking place in the US Commonwealth territory because of Assange’s opposition to travelling to one of the 50 US states and the court’s proximity to Australia.
Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton told Sky News this morning the WikiLeaks founder is “overwhelmed to be out of prison”.
Mr Shipton added: “He’s been on a plane for a very long time now… I’ve been speaking to him this week and just going through all the details with him.
“He’s been very anxious, very excited, and he’s looking forward to spending time with his family and being free, being able to have the sun shining on his face, see the birds, go for a swim in the ocean back in Australia.
“He’s very much looking forward to that.”
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Assange brother praises ‘global effort’
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Craig Murray, a friend of Assange, told Sky News the news was “absolutely wonderful”.
He said: “The whole family is totally elated that we have finally got an end to this terrible saga.”
Mr Murray said the entire ordeal has been “very taxing” on Assange with his imprisonment taking a toll on both his physical and mental health.
He added: “We are lucky that he is a very resilient man and he will recover and we will get our Julian fully back.”
Simon Crowther, Amnesty International’s legal adviser, said: “We welcome the news that Julian Assange is to be released, as we believe he should never have been imprisoned like this in the first place.
“The fight to protect freedom of expression continues though. The years-long global spectacle of the prosecution of a publisher for revealing alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and other human rights violations has undoubtedly done historic damage.”
A more than decade-long fight
Assange has been fighting extradition to the US for more than a decade.
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Australian PM: ‘We want Assange home’
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Who is Julian Assange?
In a January 2021 ruling, then district judge Vanessa Baraitser said he should not be sent to the US, citing a real and “oppressive” risk of suicide, while ruling against him on all other issues.
Later that year, US authorities won a High Court bid to overturn this block, paving the way towards Assange’s extradition.
In June 2022, the UK government approved the extradition of Assange to the US, with then home secretary Priti Patel having signed the extradition order.
Why has the US dropped the extradition demand?
The US formally asked the UK to extradite Julian Assange to face charges that he conspired to hack government computers and violated an espionage law in 2019.
After five years, this request has been dropped, with the US having come to a plea deal with the WikiLeaks founder – but why now?
Former CIA chief of staff, Larry Pfeiffer, says it is not unusual for these sorts of espionage cases to be adjudicated through plea deals.
“In these sorts of cases justice may not be the only issue that needs to be dealt with,” he told Sky News.
Mr Pfeiffer said if the case ever went to trial it would have risked “sources and methods” that the US military and government use being exposed.
“[This case] also served as a thorn in UK-US relations and US-Australian relations,” he added.
“It was creating issues surrounding what we all love, which is liberty and freedom of the case. By resolving this we resolved some of those troublesome issues.”
Mr Pfeiffer says overall he thinks the plea deal is a “win, win”.
In Februaryof this year, he made one final attempt under UK law to avoid being sent to the US.
In March, Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Johnson dismissed most of Assange’s legal arguments – but said unless assurances were given by the US, he would be able to bring an appeal on three grounds.
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These assurances were that Assange would be protected by and allowed to rely on the First Amendment – which protects freedom of speech in the US – that he would not be “prejudiced at trial” due to his nationality and the death penalty would not be imposed.
Three months later, in May, two High Court judges ruled he would be allowed to appeal against being extradited,would not face the death penalty and he could rely on the First Amendment if he faced a trial for spying.
The Australian government said it continues to provide consular assistance to Assange.
“Prime Minister Albanese has been clear – Mr Assange’s case has dragged on for too long and there is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration,” a spokesperson said.
The parents of a seven-year-old girl who died after being buried by sand on a Florida beach have set up a national campaign to help prevent similar tragedies happening in future.
Beachgoers at the scene in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea rushed to pull out the pair, but Sloan died after being taken to hospital.
She had reportedly been buried in the 1.8m (5ft 11in) deep pit for around 20 minutes. Her brother was also taken to hospital but was left in a stable condition.
Sloan’s mother Therese and father Jason have now set up a campaign encouraging families to build sandcastles when on the beach instead of digging potentially dangerous holes.
Mrs Mattingly said in a Facebook post raising awareness of the campaign: “Sloan’s legacy is of her heart and spirit, but is also a little bit this. Please stay safe and do NOT hesitate to speak up!”
The “Sandcastles For Sloan” campaign provides beachgoers with tips and advice to help prevent adults or children from becoming buried under sand.
It warns that “sand holes can collapse quickly” and advises people to “avoid digging deeper than knee height of the shortest person in your group”.
Image: Pic: Sandcastles For Sloan
Beachgoers are also advised to fill in holes after they are “done playing” to help keep other people safe.
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Families are also urged to not let children put sand in their mouths.
A message with the campaign reads: “Sloan was a light in the world, a sweet little girl who loved dogs and the colour red.
“To honour Sloan’s memory, share this message with your beach community.”
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From February: Girl killed in sand collapse on Florida beach
The Mattingly family, from Fort Wayne in Indiana, were on holiday when the tragedy happened.
Mrs Mattingly described her daughter’s death as a “freak accident” in a tribute shared on a GoFundMe page for the family in February.
She added: “It took away our greatest 7.5 years. Don’t tell us you’re sorry for our loss… don’t do that to us. We experienced the purest human being and we are forever changed by her.
“We love you beyond any stretch of the imagination. Our sweet Sloan. What we would give.”
Image: The Mattingly family. Pic: Facebook
The page raised more than $162,000 (£127,000) to help the family cover funeral costs and provide them with financial assistance due their period of grief.
Sloan’s uncle Chris Sloan, with the girl’s first name having been her mother’s maiden name, told KFOR-TV in February: “They were having a good time. Everybody was really excited to actually see them out there.”
He added: “Later we found out that after the sand had caved, [Sloan] kept trying to grab up Maddox’s leg to get up out of the sand, and eventually he couldn’t feel her moving anymore.
“The sand had been up to [Maddox’s] chest, and he was screaming for help, and a lot of people did come and help.”