Donald Trump says he expects to be indicted today over attempts to overturn 2020 election Donald Trump said he expects to be indicted at 5pm EST today as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump posted to Truth Social: I hear that Deranged Jack Smith, in order to interfere with the Presidential Election of 2024, will be putting out yet another Fake Indictment of your favorite President, me, at 5:00 P.M. Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct! The federal grand jury hearing evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election has handed up an indictment in the federal courthouse. The indictment was sealed. From Politico’s Josh Gerstein: The grand jury foreperson is in the magistrate judge’s courtroom. Prosecutors have entered the Washington DC courthouse and a new “grand jury returns” has been added to the docket, Politico’s Kyle Cheney writes. Staff at the Washington DC federal court have returned to the magistrate judge’s courtroom, CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane writes. Donald Trump says he expects to be indicted today over attempts to overturn 2020 election Donald Trump said he expects to be indicted at 5pm EST today as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump posted to Truth Social: I hear that Deranged Jack Smith, in order to interfere with the Presidential Election of 2024, will be putting out yet another Fake Indictment of your favorite President, me, at 5:00 P.M. Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct! Donald Trump and his advisers spent yesterday and this morning reportedly preparing for a potential indictment to be filed in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump is expected to release a statement on Truth Social if he is informed of an indictment in the case, sources told CNN. The Trump campaign has lined up surrogates, influencers and allies to immediately respond to new charges should they be filed, and have also prepared a series of pre-written statements and videos defending Trump’s actions in the lead up to and on January 6, that they plan to send to supporters, according to the report. A Trump adviser told the news channel: We have a lot of products and content ready to go pushing back on the Jan. 6 stuff, not unlike what we’ve done before. The grand jury convened by special counsel Jack Smith to investigate efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election have concluded for the day. The atmosphere in the Washington courthouse remains tense, according to Politico’s Kyle Cheney, with reporters jammed in the hallway hoping to catch sight of movement from the grand jury room. Last year, the Guardian’s Sam Levine traveled to Michigan to report on the ultimately unsuccessful bid by Matthew DePerno to become the state’s attorney general. DePerno was a denier of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, and today was one of two people charged with crime related to tampering with voting machines. Here’s Sam’s report from last year, when Donald Trump arrived to endorse DePerno’s candidacy: Eight hours before Donald Trump took the stage in the Detroit suburbs on Saturday, an army of canvassers darted along the line of people snaking outside the hulking sports complex where supporters of the former president were waiting to get in. “You guys think we’re gonna have a fair election?,” one canvasser asked Marco Braggion, 26 and Christian Howard, 25, who was standing in a cowboy hat and jean jacket. “We need to be able to work those polls to keep eyes on what’s going on.” It was an exchange that underscored how Republicans, stewing in doubts about the 2020 election, are organizing to take control of the machinery of elections – how ballots are cast and counted. And when Trump took the stage Saturday evening, his first visit to Michigan since 2020, that’s what he was focused on too. He was there to campaign for two-little known candidates who are seeking offices that wield significant power over voting rules in Michigan, one of the most important battleground states in the presidential election. Trump was stumping for Matthew DePerno, who is seeking the GOP nomination for attorney general, and Kristina Karamo, a Republican running to be Michigan secretary of state, the state’s chief election official. Both are seeking to earn the Republican nomination at the party’s convention in the state this month. Neither has any prior political experience and their political rise stems almost entirely from their efforts to spread misinformation about the 2020 election. Joe Biden defeated Trump in the state by just over 154,000 votes in 2020, and Trump’s efforts to throw out the election were unsuccessful. If Karamo and DePerno were elected this fall, it would place two Trump allies in key positions from which they could potentially do what he could not in 2020: overturn an election result. “Remember this is not just about 2022, this is about making sure Michigan is not rigged and stolen in 2024,” Trump said in a meandering hour and forty-five minute speech in which he repeatedly insisted, falsely, that he won Michigan in 2020. “I have to be honest, I don’t do this often for state people, this is so important. What happened in Michigan, it’s a disgrace.” Trump allies face charges in Michigan for tampering with 2020 election voting machines Two Republican allies of Donald Trump in Michigan, including an ex-state lawmaker and a former candidate for attorney general, are facing charges over tampering with voting machines used in the 2020 election, the Associated Press reports. A blue-leaning swing state, Trump managed to carry Michigan when he won the White House in 2016, while Joe Biden claimed it, and the presidency, in 2020. Trump then worked with local Republicans in an unsuccessful attempt to use an alternate slate of electors to stop Biden from claiming the state’s electoral votes. Last month, Michigan’s Democratic attorney general Dana Nessel charged 16 of those electors with felonies related to their participation in the scheme. Here’s more on the latest criminal fallout from the 2020 election, as told by the AP: Matthew DePerno, a Republican lawyer who was endorsed by Trump in an unsuccessful run for Michigan attorney general last year, was charged with undue possession of a voting machine and conspiracy, according to Oakland County court records. Daire Rendon, a former Republican state representative, was charged with conspiracy to commit undue possession of a voting machine and false pretenses. Both were arraigned remotely Tuesday afternoon, according to Richard Lynch, the court administrator for Oakland County’s 6th Circuit. Those charged in Michigan are the latest facing legal consequences for alleged crimes committed after embracing Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen. The charges come as the former president is investigated for election interference in Georgia. Separately, Trump said in mid-July that he is a target of a federal investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. DePerno, whose name was incorrectly listed as “DeParno,” in court records, was named as a “prime instigator” in the case. He could not be reached by phone immediately for comment but has previously denied wrongdoing and has accused the state attorney general of “weaponizing her office.” Five vote tabulators were taken from three counties in Michigan to a hotel room, according to documents released last year by Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office. Investigators found that the tabulators were broken into and “tests” were performed on the equipment. They said that DePerno was there. If Donald Trump is indicted over the January 6 insurrection or the plot to meddle in the 2020 election, the decision will be made in the E. Barrett Prettyman federal courthouse, situated just a short walk from the Capitol in Washington DC: Harris rejects DeSantis invitation to hash out differences over teaching slavery Meanwhile in Florida, Kamala Harris has rejected an invitation from Republican governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis to discuss the state’s controversial African-American studies curriculum, which will teach students that enslaved people learned some useful skills. The vice-president’s comments came during her appearance at the 20th Women’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church Quadrennial Convention in Orlando. Here’s what Harris had to say: CNN’s federal court watchers picked up on a detail that may or may not be significant as we await whether special counsel Jack Smith will indict Donald Trump over the 2020 election meddling campaign. The federal grand jury’s foreman appears to have not departed the Washington DC courthouse where they were sitting: Grand juries are made up of citizens summoned by federal prosecutors to go over evidence and hear from witnesses before voting on whether to approve an indictment. Trump preparing for indictment - report Donald Trump and his advisers have spent today and Monday preparing for his potential indictment over the campaign to overturn the 2020 election, CNN reports: Meanwhile, NBC News reports grand jurors empaneled by special counsel Jack Smith for his investigation have left the Washington DC courthouse where they were sitting: Former Georgia state senator Jen Jordan received subpoenas to testify before a grand jury investigating Donald Trump for his actions in the wake of his 2020 election defeat. The subpoenas to Jordan, reported by CNN, and independent journalist George Chidi are the strongest indication yet that Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis intends to seek indictments in her criminal investigation. In an interview over the weekend, Willis reemphasized her plans to announce charging decisions by 1 September. “We’re ready to go,” she told WXIA. Willis has previously signaled that she would make any charging announcements between 31 July and the end of August. Florida governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis invited vice president Kamala Harris to Florida amid their ongoing feud over the state’s new African American history curriculum. Harris visited Florida last month where she decried the state board of education’s controversial new standards for Black history, which include the contention that some Black people benefited from being enslaved. In a letter published on Monday, DeSantis invited Harris to meet with him in Tallahassee, the state’s capital, while accusing the Biden-Harris administration of having “repeatedly disparaged our state and misinformed Americans” about the state’s Black history standards. DeSantis wrote: In Florida we are unafraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues. And you clearly have no trouble ducking down to Florida on short notice. So given your grave concern (which, I must assume, is sincere) about what you think our standards say, I am officially inviting you back down to Florida to discuss our African American History standards. New Jersey lieutenant governor Sheila Oliver, who made history as the state’s first Black woman to serve in a statewide elected office, died aged 71 on Tuesday, according to her family. In a statement, the Oliver family said: She was not only a distinguished public servant but also our cherished daughter, sister, aunt, friend, and hero. Sheila Y. Oliver leaves behind a legacy of dedication, service, and inspiration. We will remember her commitment to the people of New Jersey and her tireless efforts to uplift the community. Oliver had been serving as acting governor of New Jersey while governor Phil Murphy was on vacation. But Oliver was hospitalized this week for unspecified “medical care”, Murphy’s communications director said in a statement on Monday. Senate president Nicholas Scutari took over as acting governor when Oliver was rushed to the hospital. The day so far Grand jurors are meeting again at a federal courthouse in Washington DC, as special counsel Jack Smith edges toward announcing charges over the January 6 insurrection, potentially against Donald Trump. There’s no saying when a decision will be made or who will be indicted, but Smith has told Trump he is a target of the investigation. The legal trouble – which would be Trump’s third indictment, if it happens – appears not to have dented his standing with Republicans, nor even his general election prospects. A new poll out today shows Trump and Joe Biden tied in the general election, which would be bad news for Democrats, if it holds. Here’s what else has happened today so far: The White House and Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville are squabbling on Twitter over the Republican lawmaker’s blockade of military promotions. The Mountain Valley Pipeline is expected to be constructed by the end of the year, the firm behind the controversial natural gas pipeline announced. Trump and Biden’s general election tie is a sign Democrats need to get to work, a top political analyst said. Here’s more from the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly on Donald Trump’s money problems, and how the Republican presidential frontrunner is trying to turn the situation around: Burning through campaign funds thanks to mounting legal fees, Donald Trump has been forced to recall $60m from a Super Pac, money originally intended for TV advertising in the Republican presidential primary. In filings with the Federal Election Commission FEC) on Monday, Trump’s political action committee, Save America, said that at the end of June it had less than $4m cash on hand, having paid tens of millions of dollars in legal fees for the former president and associates. Trump faces 40 criminal charges over his retention of classified documents after leaving office; 34 criminal charges over hush-money payments to a porn star in 2016; the imminent prospect of federal and state charges over his election subversion; ongoing proceedings involving the writer E Jean Carroll, to whom he was ordered to pay $5m after being found liable for sexual abuse and defamation; and assorted investigations of his business affairs.