Former President Donald Trump is bound to face charges in the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into the January 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol, ex-federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said.
Trump indicated on Tuesday that he expects to be arrested again, after his lawyers received a letter from Special Counsel Jack Smith saying the former president is a target of the DOJ's probe of the Capitol attack. Smith's investigation has also focused on accusations that Trump and his allies led a fake-elector scheme in 2020 to insert pro-Trump electors in states where the Republican narrowly lost to President Joe Biden.
Vance, who served as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, wrote about Smith's letter on her Substack blog Tuesday, stating that, in "DOJ-speak," a target letter means that federal prosecutors "believe they have sufficient evidence to charge in a criminal case, and whom they intend to charge."
"The chance that Jack Smith would fail to indict a former president after sending him a target letter are nil," Vance wrote. "It's all over but the shouting—the only real question remaining is what the former president will be charged with."
News of Smith's letter comes on the same day that Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced felony charges against 16 Michigan Republicans accused of participating in Trump's purported elector scheme in the state. The Republicans each face several counts related to falsifying documents and election forgery, according to a statement from Nessel's office.
Nessel had previously decided not to investigate the fake-elector case and instead referred the issue to the DOJ last year. In January, however, she announced that she was reopening the investigation after federal prosecutors decided not to pursue criminal charges, stating, "that type of activity can't go without any consequences."
Vance noted that there was "no indication Ms. Nessel plans to bring charges against Donald Trump" in the probe, adding, "it's clear that she views charging Trump as someone else's responsibility."
"The hope is that Jack Smith is ready to follow up," Vance continued. "It looks like he is."
In a statement posted to Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump reiterated his stance that the DOJ's investigation into his actions leading up to January 6 was another example of interference ahead of the 2024 election. The former president, largely considered the front-runner for the next GOP presidential nomination, is already facing dozens of federal felony charges related to his handling of classified documents, and additional criminal charges in Manhattan court tied to hush-money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign.
"So now, Joe Biden's Attorney General, Merrick Garland...together with Joe Biden's Department of Injustice, 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," read Trump's statement.
When reached for comment regarding the felony charges announced in Michigan, Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington directed Newsweek to a tweet from earlier in the day in which she stated that Nessel was "rounding up political opponents on FAKE charges."
"There are no 'fake electors,'" Harrington wrote. "It's propaganda to distract from the fact the 2020 Election was worthy of contesting, which was done according to the Constitution to return the crooked election back to the states!"
