criminalized. merrick garland is also reacting saying that the special counsel has, quote, followed the facts. in november i appointed jack smith to take on the ongoing investigation. in order to underline the department s commitment of accountability and independence. mr. smith and his team, experienced, principled, career agents and prosecutors have followed the facts and the law wherever they lead. paula r50ed has more from washington. reporter: this is the third criminal indictment that former president trump has faced this year. in this indictment jack smith alleges that former president trump after he lost the 2020 election, that he pursued a series of actions to try to unlawful overturn the results of
trump also took to his truth social platform to blast this latest indictment. claiming the purpose is to interfere with his 2024 presidential campaign. mr. smith and his team, career agents, prosecutors, follow the facts and the law wherever they lead. reporter: trump s six indicted co-conspirators are not named. but cnn can identify five of them based on quotes in the indictment. the indictment focuses on five tactics, they along with trump allege order to execute to overturn the 2020 election. fueling claims of election fraud to try pressure state election officials to subvert the election results. trying to use the power of the justice department to conduct sham election crime. pressuring then-vice president
he weighed in on this from philadelphia. jack smith, the special counsel to take on the ongoing investigation, in order to underline the departments commitment to accountability and independents. mr. smith and his team of experienced, principled career agents and prosecutors have followed the facts and the law wherever they lead. any questions about this matter will have to be answered by the filings made in the courtroom. joining me now is the former presidents newest attorney to his team, john lauro. john, thank so much for being here tonight. you have read through this indictment. what is your defense going to look like? it is basically a regurgitation o the j six committee report. but our focus is the fact that this is an attack on free speech and political advocacy. there is nothing that is more protected under the first amendment then political speech so at the end, our defense is gonna be focusing on the fact
citizens. in the meantime, i must emphasize that the indictment is only an allegation and that the defendant must be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. that was followed minutes later by comments from attorney general merrick garland. i appointed jack smith as special counsel to take on the ongoing investigation. in order to underline the department s commitment to accountability and independence. mr. smith and his team of experienced career agents and prosecutors have followed the facts and the law wherever they lead. the former president reacting on social media, claiming the case is being brought now to interfere with his presidential campaign. this morning on today, savannah sitting down with a combative trump defense lawyer,
immediately after the january six attack on our democracy, the career men and women of thejustice department engaged in what has become the largest investigation in our history. in november last, i appointed jack smith, special counsel, to take on the ongoing investigation, in order to underline the department s commitment to accountability and independence. smith and his team have principled and experienced career agents and prosecutors, who have followed the facts on the law wherever they lead. any questions about this matter will have to be answered by the filings made in the courtroom. 0ur north america correspondent nomia iqbal sent this update from outside the court where mr trump will appear later this week former president donald trump is due to appear in court behind me on thursday. he has the option of