Donald Trump likely to face a third round of criminal charges over Janury 6 Capitol riots

Donald Trump faces a third round of criminal charges over his actions during the Capitol Hill riots.

A January 6 video of Former US President Donald Trump telling his supporters to go home, is seen on screen during a hearing by the House Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. Picture: AFP.

Donald Trump is facing a third round of criminal charges after the former president revealed he had received “horrifying news” from the Department of Justice that he was facing a possible indictment over his alleged actions to subvert the 2020 election during the January 6th riots on Capitol Hill.

On the same day Mr Trump’s lawyers appeared in a Florida court to fight separate charges that he illegally took classified documents, Mr Trump announced he was expecting to be arrested, potentially within days, putting a further cloud over the current GOP frontrunner’s candidacy for the Republican 2024 nomination.

“Deranged Jack Smith 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 and Indictment,” he posted on his Truth Social account on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) morning.

Attorney-General Merrick Garland in November appointed special counsel Jack Smith to look into both any criminality over Mr Trump’s removal of classified documents from the White House, which last month produced 37 charges, and also Mr Trump’s behaviour surrounding January 6th.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, left, at the US Department of Justice has warned Donald Trump he is being targeted over the January 6 riots. Picture: AFP.

“This witch hunt is about election interference and a complete and total political weaponisation of law enforcement! It is a very sad and dark period for our nation,” Mr Trump said on social media. “Nothing like this has happened in out country before, or even close”.

The January 6th Commission, which released its final report in December last year, made a non-binding recommendation to the Justice Department to prosecute Mr Trump for conspiracies to defraud the US and make false statements, aiding an ‘insurrection’ and obstructing congress.

Mr Trump has maintained his innocence against all indictments, using the charges to supercharge his campaign fundraising efforts among sympathetic supporters, at a time presidential candidates from both parties have been keen to show off their financial support.

The former president had US$23 million in cash on hand at the end of June, according to recent data from the Federal Election Commission, more than any other candidate, compared with US$20 million for Joe Biden and US$12m for Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

News of a potential new indictment comes amid an increasingly polarised political environment where Republicans, including many in congress, have argued the Biden administration, including the FBI and health department, has unfairly targeted conservatives in the courts and on social media.

Despite suffering two indictments this year, including in April in New York for hush money payments to a porn star in 2016, Mr Trump increased his already significant lead over his Republican rivals, who have struggled to woo the former president’s significant support base in the Republican Party.

More than 50 per cent of Republican voters say they will support Mr Trump for the GOP nomination when state-based primaries kick off next year, according to an average of major polls kept by FiveThirtyEight, compared with 22 per cent for Mr DeSantis and 7 per cent for former vice-president Mike Pence, in third place.

An average of odds across 10 political betting markets, compiled by RealClearPolitics, give Mr Trump a 28 per cent chance of winning next year’s presidential election, compared with President Biden’s 34 per cent, as of yesterday.

Mr DeSantis, Mr Trump’s closest and increasingly bitter rival for the GOP nomination, on Tuesday said the former president, who was in the White House during the January 6th riot, should have acted sooner to defuse it.

“He should have come out more forcefully, but to try to criminalise it, well that’s a different issue entirely,” he said, speaking at a rally in South Carolina on Tuesday.

Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and GOP presidential candidate, told Fox News the Republican Party needed a “a new generation of leader so we can’t keep dealing with all the drama and negativity”, offering the most critical response so far among Republican candidates.

“It’s going to keep going, I mean the rest of this primary election is going to be in reference to Trump, it’s going to be about lawsuits, legal fees, judges and it’s just going to continue,” she said on Tuesday.

The Republican Party did not support the findings of the January 6th commission after former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi refused to include the party’s suggested members for the committee, which was established in July 2021.

“They have now effectively indicted me three times … with a possible fourth coming from Atlanta,” Mr Trump also said, referring to an ongoing investigation in Georgia centred around a phone call where Mr Trump asked state election officials to “find 11,780 votes” in early 2021.

Georgia’s supreme court on Monday (Tuesday AEST) quashed Mr Trump’s legal team’s attempt to throw the investigation out, paving the way for a potential fourth indictment in coming weeks from Fulton County District Attorney and Democrat Fani Willis.

Lawyers for Mr Trump and the Justice department were due to appear before Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, whom Mr Trump as president appointed, on Tuesday to discuss how classified material will be handled in the forthcoming trial, whose start date Mr Trump’s lawyers have argued should be set after the 2024 election.