A conviction in this case, or any other, would not prevent Trump from pursuing the White House or serving as president. The mounting criminal cases against Trump - not to mention multiple civil cases - are unfolding in the heat of the 2024 race. A bipartisan House committee that spent months investigating the run-up to the Capitol riot also recommended prosecuting Trump on charges, including aiding an insurrection and obstructing an official proceeding. The indictment had been expected since Trump said in mid-July that the Justice Department informed him he was a target of its long-running Jan. In between the election and the riot, Trump urged local election officials to undo voting results in their states, pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to halt the certification of electoral votes and falsely claimed that the election had been stolen - a notion repeatedly rejected by judges.

6, 2021, when Trump loyalists violently broke into the building, attacked police officers and disrupted the congressional counting of electoral votes. They focus on the turbulent two months after the November 2020 election in which Trump refused to accept his loss and spread lies that victory was stolen from him. Yet the charges stem from one of the most serious threats to American democracy in modern history.

It is sure to be dismissed by the former president and his supporters - and even some of his rivals - as just another politically motivated prosecution. The criminal case comes while Trump leads the field of Republicans vying to capture their party’s presidential nomination.

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