Donald Trump faces prospect of fifth indictment

NEWSWEEK

According to The Detroit News, citing a leaked recording of a phone call by someone the publication said was present for the conversation, Trump personally pressured two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, not to sign the certification of the election results in the state, which Biden won by 154,000 votes. It reports Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, was also involved in the call.

Newsweek contacted representatives for Trump by email and McDaniel by social media to comment on this story. Newsweek has been unable to independently verify the recording. The Detroit News reported that spokespeople for Palmer, McDaniel and Trump did not dispute a summary of the call. Hartmann died in 2021.

The former president and GOP frontrunner is facing a federal case brought by special counsel Jack Smith alleging he worked to overturn the results of the election, won by President Joe Biden. Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing, has been charged with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing a congressional proceeding and conspiracy against rights.

While the recording has been described by attorney Joe Gallina as “perfect evidence” against the former president and “another smoking gun” in the federal trial, other commentators have speculated that the evidence could be grounds for a fifth criminal indictment on bribery charges.

Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor and political scientist at Georgia State University College of Law, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Trump could face “a fifth set of charges” because offering a lawyer could be considered a bribe under the Michigan Penal Code, which is a felony.

The recording alleged McDaniel said: “If you can go home tonight, do not sign it… We will get you attorneys.”

Trump reportedly added: “We’ll take care of that.”

Alongside an extract of the code, Kreis wrote: “It seems like Ronna McDaniel could be in some trouble in Michigan and Donald Trump may be facing a fifth set of charges. A promise was offered in exchange for an official act unlike in Georgia where the preferred method appears to have been limited to browbeating state officials.”