WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he had heard that Special Counsel Jack Smith would announce an indictment against him at 5 p.m. (2100 GMT), according to a post on Trump’s Truth Social app.
Trump already faces criminal charges in two other cases as he campaigns to regain the presidency next year. He is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, according to public opinion polls, despite his legal woes.
“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 favorite President,” he wrote on the social media site.
Smith has been investigating allegations that Trump and his allies sought to overturn Democratic rival Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Officials have testified that Trump pressured them based on false claims of widespread voting fraud. His supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed bid to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
Trump on July 18 said he had received a letter from Smith telling him that he was a target of the Jan. 6 grand jury investigation in Washington. He has characterized the probe, as well as the other cases against him, as part of a politically motivated witch hunt.
Smith, who was appointed as special counsel in November by U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland, previously charged Trump with unlawfully retaining classified government documents after leaving office in January 2021 and obstructing justice.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward and Joseph Ax; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Howard Goller)
