Trump ‘faces Jan 6 charges of conspiracy, obstruction and civil rights violations’

The letter Donald Trump said he had received from special counsel Jack Smith reportedly listed three federal statutes that could constitute charges against him over the Jan 6 riots.

The three federal statutes mentioned in the letter by Mr Smith, according to several reports, are conspiracy to commit offence or to defraud the United States, deprivation of rights under colour of law and tampering with a witness, victim or informant.

Mr Trump is the sole individual mentioned in the letter and there are no other names mentioned, according to a source with knowledge of the matter cited by Rolling Stone magazine.

Mr Trump had earlier on Tuesday confirmed he had received a letter from Mr Smith in a Truth Social post.

“On Sunday night, while I was with my family...HORRIFYING NEWS for our country was given to me by my attorneys,” he wrote.

“Deranged Jack Smith...sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) 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.”

Meanwhile, Florida representative Matt Gaetz revealed on his podcast that he planned to introduce a bill in the near future to defund Mr Smith’s investigation into the former president.

Mr Gaetz’s announcement came just hours after Mr Trump gave confirmation of him receiving Mr Smith’s letter.

“In the coming hours, the coming days, I will be introducing legislation under my name, in the House of Representatives, as a freestanding bill, to defund the Jack Smith investigation,” Mr Gaetz said on Tuesday.

“And one reason why is the election interference feature. Another reason why: the lack of transparency.”

CNN reported that the former president has reached out to House of Representatives speaker Kevin McCarthy and House GOP Conference chair Elise Stefanik for political assistance with the fallout from the probe.

Should Mr Trump face criminal charges related to his efforts to stop Joe Biden’s lawful assumption of power following his own failure to prove his countless conspiratorial allegations of election fraud, it would be the third criminal indictment to come down on the ex-president’s shoulders this year.

A source familiar with the special counsel’s probe and Department of Justice operating procedures told The Independent that the earliest an indictment could be handed down is late Thursday or Friday, after the deadline for Mr Trump to avail himself of the invitation to testify before the grand jury has passed.