5 revelations from Trump’s Jan. 6 indictment

Former President Trump has been indicted over his efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election, with the Justice Department detailing its case in a 45-page document unveiled Tuesday.

While much of what is in the indictment was brought to the public’s attention by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, there are several new details in the filing about Trump’s conduct, actions taken by six co-conspirators in the case and officials in Trump’s administration in the weeks after the 2020 election.

Here are five revelations from the indictment.

The six co-conspirators

The indictment lists six co-conspirators in Trump’s orbit following the 2020 election who are unindicted but could still ultimately face charges.

“Our investigation of other individuals continues,” special counsel Jack Smith said on Tuesday.

One is John Eastman, a central figure in forwarding memos that spurred Trump’s pressure campaign on then-Vice President Mike Pence. Eastman’s attorney, Harvey Silverglate, confirmed his client is one of the co-conspirators.

“This is not a situation where we’re running and hiding,” Silverglate said in an interview. “I guarantee you, if it happens if our client is indicted, which I actually don’t think is going to happen, but if he’s indicted, we’re going to trial. If convicted, we’re going to appeal. There are no deals here.”

Other unnamed co-conspirators appear to be Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jeffrey Clark and Ken Chesebro based on descriptions contained in the indictment. All were involved in various legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election results contained in the indictment. 

Representatives for Giuliani and Clark declined to confirm they are the co-conspirators. Powell and Chesebro’s attorney did not return requests for comment.

Giuliani allegedly pressured state lawmakers in key swing states after the election. Powell filed various lawsuits based on false claims of mass electoral fraud. Trump mulled appointing Clark to lead the Justice Department to move forward the baseless fraud claims. And Chesebro was involved in a scheme to submit fake electors.

The indictment also lists a sixth unnamed individual, described as a political consultant, who is not clearly identifiable.

The indictment alleges they helped with the fake elector scheme and sent Giuliani contact information for attorneys who could assist with the plan and U.S. senators.

DOJ official raises Insurrection Act

One element of Trump’s plan to remain in office, according to the indictment, was putting pressure on Justice Department leaders to falsely declare that widespread fraud occurred in the election and thus put the weight of the DOJ behind Trump’s claims.

The filing alleges that Trump called for Clark, a DOJ official, to take the lead of the department and back the fraud claims. Clark allegedly drafted a memo that he intended to be sent to state officials in key swing states that decided the election that would claim the DOJ had “significant concerns” about the validity of the elections in several states.

Clark was told on multiple occasions by the acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue and deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin that his claims were false and that the department had not found evidence of widespread fraud.

The indictment relays a meeting between Philbin and Clark on Jan. 3, 2021, three days before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, in which Philbin tried to persuade Clark to not become acting attorney general as Trump had floated. Philbin reiterated that widespread fraud had not occurred and Trump remaining in office after his term ended would cause “riots in every major city” in the country.

“Well… that’s why there’s an Insurrection Act,” Clark allegedly responded. The act Clark referenced gives the president the power to deploy the military and national guard in times of rebellion or violence or to enforce the law.

Trump re-inserts language into Jan. 6 speech

The indictment lays out in extensive detail how Trump repeatedly sought to pressure then-Vice President Pence both publicly and privately to overturn the election results, despite Pence making clear that he did not have the authority to do so.

One instance includes Trump defying his aides to personally put language in a speech to supporters that called on Pence to overturn the results.

Prosecutors detail how on the morning of Jan. 6, Trump called Pence to pressure him to reject the results, which Pence refused.

“Immediately after the call, the Defendant decided to single out the Vice President in public remarks he would make within the hour, reinserting language that he had personally drafted earlier that morning—falsely claiming that the Vice President had authority to send electoral votes to the states—but that advisors had previously successfully advocated be removed,” the indictment reads.

In his speech outside the White House, Trump said he hoped Pence would “do the right thing” and argued if Pence “does the right thing, we win the election.”

Pence’s contemporaneous notes

The former vice president plays a central role in the events of the indictment, and prosecutors reference previously unreported contemporaneous notes Pence had taken during conversations with Trump.

The indictment cites notes from a Jan. 4 meeting between the then-vice president, Trump and other aides.

According to Pence’s notes, Trump made knowingly false claims of election fraud, including, “Bottom line—won every state by 100,000s of votes” and “We won every state,” and asked about a claim that Justice Department officials previously informed Trump was false, including as recently as the night before, about “205,000 votes more in PA than voters?”

Pence previously appeared before the grand jury investigating Trump and Jan. 6, and his contemporaneous notes could prove to be a critical piece of evidence moving forward.

The indictment details several other conversations between Trump and Pence in which the former pressures the latter to overturn the results. 

It references one conversation previously detailed in Pence’s memoir in which the then-vice president called Trump on Christmas morning, only for Trump to quickly turn the conversation to claims of election fraud.

And in a Jan. 1, 2021 call, also detailed in Pence’s book, Trump berated Pence after learning Pence had opposed a lawsuit seeking a ruling on the vice president’s authority to reject electoral votes. When Pence said there was no constitutional basis for him to reject the votes, Trump replied, “You’re too honest.”

Trump rejects request from Cipollone to withdraw objection

Following the end of the riot at the Capitol, Trump and Giuliani made a series of calls to members of Congress to urge them to delay the certification of the Electoral College votes, according to the indictment.

Two White House aides called two senators to try to connect them with Trump, while Giuliani called five senators and one House member. The indictment states that the sixth co-conspirator tried to confirm the phone numbers for six senators whom Trump had directed Giuliani to call to further delay the certification.

While Giuliani was calling senators on Trump’s behalf, White House counsel Pat Cipollone at roughly 7 p.m. called Trump to ask him to withdraw his objections and allow the certification to be completed. Trump refused.

Cipollone was one of the star witnesses for the House committee that investigated the events of Jan. 6, with his testimony featured prominently during the panel’s public hearings.