Donald Trump‘s indictment references six co-conspirators who worked with him to try and overturn the 2020 election – and although they are not named, they are easy to identify.
Five of the six have been identified. The sixth is known to be a political consultant, but their identity is unconfirmed.
The co-conspirators include his attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and John Eastman.
They also include ‘a Justice Department official who worked on civil matters and who, with the defendant, attempted to use the Justice Department to open sham election crime investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud.’
That description matches Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department attorney.
The fifth of the six is Kenneth Chesebro, described in the indictment as ‘an attorney who assisted in devising and attempting to implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential elections to obstruct the certification proceeding.’
John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani are seen on January 6, 2021 – speaking at a rally before the Capitol riot. Both are believed to be co-conspiritors cited in the Trump indictment
Jack Smith is pictured on Tuesday explaining the indictment at a Washington DC press conference. He did not take any questions
TRUMP’S THIRD INDICTMENT
Trump is accused of enlisting the six to ‘assist him in his criminal efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election and retain power.’
The six have not been charged.
Jack Smith, the special counsel leading the investigation, said on Tuesday evening that the work of the investigators is ongoing, and further charges could be brought.
CO-CONSPIRATOR 1: RUDY GIULIANI
Giuliani, 79, is ‘co-conspirator 1’.
He is described as an attorney ‘who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies’ that Trump’s campaign managers refused to endorse.
Giuliani served as Trump’s personal attorney and was central to efforts by the Trump team to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Giuliani figures repeatedly in the indictment.
The 45-page document references a call and meeting Giuliani had with then-speaker of the House in Arizona, Rusty Bowers. Arizona was one of the most contentious states in 2020.
Bowers told the January 6 Committee that Giuliani acknowledged they had no proof of election fraud.
Bowers said Giuliani told him: ‘We’ve got lots of theories. We just don’t have the evidence.’
Bowers added: ‘I don’t know if that was a gaffe. Or maybe he didn’t think through what he said. But both myself and … my counsel remember that specifically.’
The indictment references the testimony.
‘When the Arizona House Speaker again asked Co-Conspirator 1 for evidence of the outcome-determinative election fraud he and the Defendant had been claiming, Co-Conspirator 1 responded with words to the effect of, ‘We don’t have the evidence, but we have lots of theories,’ the indictment states.
It also references a presentation Giuliani gave to a Georgia state senate subcommittee, where the former mayor of New York City falsely claimed that more than 10,000 dead people voted in Georgia.
The indictment also references a quote from Giuliani at the January 6 rally, which further confirms his identity.
Giuliani was struck off by the New York Bar Association in June 2022, and last month, a D.C. Bar Association panel drafted a preliminary recommendation that he be disbarred in their district.
Ted Goodman, political advisor and spokesman for Giuliani, said in a statement that the indictment criminalizes the act of ‘daring to ask questions about the 2020 election results.’
‘Every fact Mayor Rudy Giuliani possesses about this case establishes the good faith basis President Donald Trump had for the actions he took during the two-month period charged in the indictment,’ Goodman said.
CO-CONSPIRATOR 2: JOHN EASTMAN
Eastman, 63, is a conservative attorney who had advised Florida’s legislature in the contested 2000 election.
He began working for Trump shortly before the election, in September 2020.
In the indictment, he is co-conspirator 2: ‘an attorney who devised and attempted to implement a strategy to leverage the Vice President’s ceremonial role overseeing the certification proceeding to obstruct the certification of the presidential election.’
