Takeaways from the Trump indictment that alleges a campaign of ‘fraud and deceit’

WASHINGTON — The federal indictment of Donald Trump on Tuesday marks the first time that the former president has been formally held accountable for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Another wrote in an email: “I’ll obviously hustle to help on all fronts, but it’s tough to own any of this when it’s all just conspiracy s--- beamed down from the mothership.” But Trump continued to tell “prolific lies,” the indictment says, about the outcome of the election, even after being warned of his false statements by top government officials — citing thousands of dead voters in Georgia, an overcount in Pennsylvania and tens of thousands of noncitizen voters in Arizona. Prosecutors cite Pence’s “contemporaneous notes” about his interactions with Trump as the former president tried to convince him to delay or reject the legitimate election results on Jan. 6. Told by a colleague what was going on, Trump’s deputy campaign manager called it a “crazy play.” They refused to put their names on a statement about it, because none of them could “stand by it.” THE CO-CONSPIRATORS The indictment alleges Trump enlisted six people to help him try to overturn the 2020 election. The indictment quotes Trump as privately conceding Powell’s claims sounded “crazy.” Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department official who championed Trump’s false claims of election fraud, is described as “Co-Conspirator 4.” “Co-Conspirator 5” is lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who the indictment says “assisted in devising and attempting to implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding.” “Co-Conspirator 6” is an unknown political consultant who also assisted with the fake electors plan.