The grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump's alleged role in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol left the federal courthouse in Washington as it concluded business for Tuesday.
CNN reported that the grand jury's foreman remained behind, signaling that an indictment could be imminent because the foreman is the only person needed to return an indictment.
It has been two weeks since Trump said he received a letter from Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith, saying Trump is a target of the grand jury's investigation and was requested to testify. Trump did not appear, and since then, there was rampant speculation that an indictment is imminent.
In a Truth Social post Tuesday afternoon, Trump hinted that indictment was now imminent. This, as the special counsel planned for a 5 p.m. ET announcement.
"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!"
CNN, citing sources familiar with the plans, reported that Trump and his advisers spent Monday and Tuesday morning preparing for a potential indictment. The Trump campaign has lined up surrogates, influencers, and allies to immediately respond to new charges, should they be filed, and have prepared a series of pre-written statements and videos defending the former president.
Trump, the prohibitive favorite to land the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, also is expected to release a statement on Truth Social if he is informed of an indictment in the case, the sources said, according to CNN.
It would be the third indictment against Trump since he pleaded not guilty in April in New York to a 34-count indictment regarding alleged hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump also pleaded not guilty in June to a 37-count federal indictment, now expanded to 42 counts, related to his handling of presidential documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Trump also is facing an investigation in Georgia by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, for his alleged efforts to overturn the state's 2020 election results.
The grand jury in Washington met Thursday but left for the day without word whether they voted to return an indictment. On Tuesday morning, CNBC reported that the members headed up to their area on the third floor of the E. Barrett Prettyman courthouse, according to NBC News reporters in the building.
The grand jury broke for lunch at about noon EDT and resumed the meeting about an hour later. Members were seen departing the courthouse at about 2 p.m.
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