July 18 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is the target of a grand jury investigation looking into the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he received the notification by letter Sunday night. He did not specify who delivered the letter to his lawyers or if anyone else had been formally notified.
The former president took aim at special counsel Jack Smith in his three-paragraph post.
“Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter stating that I am a target of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the grand jury, which almost always means an arrest or indictment,” Trump wrote in the post.
He goes on to blame U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, calling the investigation politically motivated and “HORRIFYING news for our country.”
“This witch hunt is all about election interference and a complete and total politicalization of law enforcement!” Trump wrote.
A mass of Trump’s supporters stormed the halls of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, as lawmakers worked to certify the results of the 2020 election. More than 1,000 have been arrested, ending in penalties, including prison, for hundreds.
After series of dramatic public hearings outlining its findings, a bipartisan select committee of the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously referred Trump to the Justice Department in December on four criminal charges: obstruction of an official proceeding of the U.S. government; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make false statements; and to “incite,” “assist” or “aid or comfort” an insurrection.
Smith was appointed to investigate Trump’s role in the lead-up to the Capitol assault as Trump repeated false statements that the 2020 election was stolen.
Trump received a similar letter in June indicating he was a target in Smith’s investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents that came a day before he was formally indicted in the case.
Tuesday’s news comes the same day Trump faces a key court date in the documents case in Florida.
The hearing is considered routine and will outline a time frame for the case, as both sides are seeking delays to the August trial date.
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