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It's reported by BBC News that Mr Trump is charged with four counts, including:

  • conspiracy to defraud the US

  • tampering with a witness

  • conspiracy against the rights of citizens

Focusing on the first bullet point to avoid asking multiple questions1:

What legislation introduces and/or covers the offence of defrauding the US?

1Although I would be interested in knowing more on the underlying legislation for a charge of conspiracy against the rights of citizens which I might post as a follow-up question

1 Answers1

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Count 1: 18 U.S.C. § 371 (Conspiracy to Defraud United States)

Here the indictment's introduction alleges that Trump perpetrated:

A conspiracy to to defraud the United States by using dishonesty, fraud, and deceit to impair, obstruct, and defeat the lawful federal government function by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted, and certified by the federal government, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371.

temporary link to indictment pdf pending finding a better version: https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2023/08/trump-indictment.pdf

18 U.S.C. § 371 (Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute):

If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

If, however, the offense, the commission of which is the object of the conspiracy, is a misdemeanor only, the punishment for such conspiracy shall not exceed the maximum punishment provided for such misdemeanor.

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