Federal prosecutors said in their indictment of former President Donald Trump that he had the right to formally challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election but his behavior became criminal over a monthslong effort that attempted to discount legitimate voters and subvert the results. Trump had a right, like every American, “to speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud during the election and that he had won” prosecutors said in the court documents filed Tuesday. The indictment describes a monthslong plan, from Nov. 14, 2020 to Jan. 20, 2021, as Trump and the others conspired to defraud the United States.
