Newspaper editorial boards reflect on Trump indictment across the U.S.

Newspaper editorial boards across the nation largely gave their rubber stamp of approval to former President Donald Trump’s latest indictment after federal prosecutors charged him Tuesday with conspiring to seize a second term after losing the 2020 election.

The morning after Trump's indictment was handed down, editorial boards such as the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board called the indictment “especially grave.”

“Indicting a former president is a traumatic event for the nation, but so was Trump’s multifaceted attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 election,” The LA Times Editorial Board wrote, adding, “despite what Trump may think, it is perfectly appropriate for prosecutors to seek to hold him accountable for alleged violations of criminal law, just as they have with those who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”

On Tuesday, special counsel Jack Smith charged Trump with four felony counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.

The United States “had never seen an indictment of this magnitude,” The New York Times Editorial Board wrote. An editorial board is composed of editors and writers who are charged to provide readers with a view that represents the voice of the board and typically falls under the opinion section at newspapers and media outlets.

“It’s the third criminal indictment of Mr. Trump, and it demonstrates, yet again, that the rule of law in America applies to everyone, even when the defendant was the country’s highest-ranking official," the NYT board wrote. "The crimes alleged in this indictment are, by far, the most serious because they undermine the country’s basic principles."

The Miami Herald's editorial posed a different assertion, stating that Trump needs to face the Jan. 6 charges, but so does the nation.

“In some ways, certainly, this is yet another new low for the country, attributable to Trump,” the Miami Herald Editorial Board wrote. “But it may also show us that our institutions are strong enough to stand up to the kind of prolonged assault that a person like Trump — an amoral person with money, power and a massive, easily wounded ego — has heaped on it.”

More conservative editorial boards, such as The Wall Street Journal's, call Trump’s post-election behavior in 2020 “deceitful and destructive,” and his “malfeasance on Jan. 6, 2021, was disgraceful,” but call into question if his actions were criminal or not.

“Yet the indictment offers no new evidence to establish a connection between the riot and Mr. Trump beyond his well-known tweets and public statements,” the WSJ Editorial Board wrote.

Similarly, the National Review's editorial says the indictment “shouldn’t stand,” adding that “criminal prosecution is an inapt substitute for the congressionally driven political process that the Constitution set up to address gross abuses of power.”

Local outlets' editorial boards weighed in as well: The Chicago Sun-Times' called the indictment a “necessary step” and The Boston Globe's said the latest set of charges will “likely be the most consequential.”

“The Justice Department cannot be accused of having rushed to this decision. It acted carefully and deliberately,” The Boston Globe Editorial Board wrote. “These charges will undoubtedly touch off a political maelstrom.”