Trump lawyers meet with US special counsel as second indictment looms

By Sarah N. Lynch and Jacqueline Thomsen

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s attorneys met on Thursday with Justice Department officials investigating the Republican former president’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, said Trump, the target of a Special Counsel investigation.

Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the Department of Justice had not told his attorneys when action was likely.

“My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country,” Trump said. “No indication of notice was given during the meeting.”

Special Counsel Jack Smith is investigating actions by Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, to try to reverse his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

Officials have testified that during his final months in office, Trump pressured them with false claims of widespread voter fraud. His supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in a Jan. 6, 2021, bid to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s win.

Trump said on July 18 he had received a letter from Smith stating that he was a target of the probe.

Several U.S. news outlets reported Trump’s lawyers had arrived at a Justice Department building and were meeting with officials in Smith’s office.

It is not uncommon for defense attorneys to meet with federal prosecutors before an indictment.

Trump is already the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges, which he has sought to portray as a politically motivated witch hunt.

Any indictment in the election case would represent a second round of federal charges from Smith, who was appointed in November by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Trump’s attorneys previously met with officials at the Justice Department, including Smith, before a grand jury in Miami indicted Trump in June.

Trump pleaded not guilty in Miami to a 37-count indictment charging him with unlawfully retaining classified government documents after leaving office in 2021 and obstructing justice. Prosecutors accused him of risking some of the most sensitive U.S. national security secrets.

The first charges brought against Trump came in March when a grand jury convened by Manhattan’s district attorney indicted him. Trump in April pleaded not guilty to a 34 charges accusing him of falsifying business records concerning a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she said she had with him.

Trump, 77, leads a crowded field of Republican presidential candidates as he seeks a rematch with Biden, 80, next year.

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