Another Trump Indictment

Donald Trump’s post-election behavior in 2020 was destructive, and his malfeasance on Jan. 6, 2021, was disgraceful, but was it criminal? That’s the claim in an indictment issued late Tuesday by a federal grand jury empaneled by special counsel Jack Smith.

The four-count indictment was issued close to our deadline for the Journal’s early print editions, and we will wait to comment on the evidence and legal merits until reading it. But the indictment compounds the legal jeopardy for the former President who is seeking a rematch against President Biden.

The charges also raise the stakes for the prosecutor, and for the public, because they essentially claim Mr. Trump engaged in a conspiracy to steal an election he had lost at the polling booth and in the Electoral College.

The first indictment in New York state by a partisan district attorney for paying hush money is a junk case. Mr. Smith’s previous indictment for mishandling classified documents is more serious and the evidence stronger. But this latest indictment goes to the core of American democracy and the transfer of power.

Mr. Trump was quick to denounce the charges as politically motivated: “This is nothing more than the latest corrupt chapter in the continued pathetic attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their weaponized Department of Justice to interfere with the 2024 Presidential Election, in which President Trump is the undisputed frontrunner, and leading by substantial margins.”

Most depressing for U.S. democracy is that these multiple indictments will now be at the center of an election in which the U.S. needs to look forward to meet its many challenges.