WASHINGTON: Former US president Donald Trump said on Tuesday he expected to be charged over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol — an indictment that would ramp up his legal woes as he makes another White House run.

The 77-year-old Trump — in the hunt for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination -- is already facing criminal charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith for mishandling top secret government documents after leaving the White House.

Trump said he received a letter from Smith on Sunday stating that he’s a target of the probe into January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed Congress in a bid to prevent the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

“Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6 Grand Jury investigation,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Trump, currently the frontrunner for his party’s presidential nomination, said he was given “a very short four days” to report to a grand jury, “which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.” “This witch hunt is all about election interference and a complete and total political weaponisation of law enforcement,” Trump said. “It is a very sad and dark period for our Nation!” It was not immediately clear what specific charges Trump may face. A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

An unnamed adviser to Trump told The Washington Post the former president would decline the invitation to testify before the grand jury investigating the Capitol riot.

More than 1,000 people have been arrested for taking part in what prosecutors have called an insurrection to keep Trump in the White House after his election loss.

Most of them face charges of illegally entering the Capitol or causing property damage, but some 350 have been charged with assaulting law enforcement officers or resisting arrest.

Others, including members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, have been convicted of the more serious charge of seditious conspiracy. Trump was indicted by Smith in June for allegedly stashing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida — the first former US president to face criminal charges.

Trump is charged with 31 counts of “willful retention of national defense information,” each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He also faces charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, making false statements and other offenses.

According to the indictment, Trump kept the files — which included records from the Pentagon, CIA and National Security Agency — unsecured at his Mar-a-Lago home.

The judge presiding over the documents case is to hold a hearing in Florida later Tuesday to discuss a date for the trial to begin.

Prosecutors have asked for a December start, while Trump’s defense attorneys have asked for it to begin after the November 2024 presidential election.

Georgia prosecutors are also investigating whether Trump illegally attempted to overturn the presidential election outcome in the southern state.

In his Truth Social post, Trump argued that he has “the right to protest an Election that I am fully convinced was Rigged and Stolen” and said he was being targeted because of the upcoming election.

The Justice Department has “effectively issued a third indictment and Arrest of Joe Biden’s NUMBER ONE POLITICAL OPPONENT, who is largely dominating him in the race for the Presidency,” Trump said.

“Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before, or even close.” According to The Washington Post, a target letter does not necessarily mean charges will be brought against the recipient.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2023