Wire and mail fraud
A constellation of other potential crimes has also surrounded the Jan. 6 investigation. One is wire fraud. Section 1343 of Title 18 makes it a crime, punishable by 20 years in prison, to cause money to be transferred across state lines by telegram as part of a scheme to obtain money through false or fraudulent representations. A similar fraud statute, section 1341, covers schemes using the postal service.
Subpoenas issued by Mr. Smith suggest he closely investigated Mr. Trump’s political action committee, Save America PAC. It raised a whopping $250 million and told donors that the money was needed to fight voter fraud, even though Mr. Trump had repeatedly been told there was no evidence to support those claims.
The House Jan. 6 committee had also suggested that Mr. Trump and his associates had defrauded his own supporters. It described how they appealed to donors as many as 25 times a day after the election to fight the results in court and contribute to a defense fund. But no such fund existed, and they used the money for other purposes, including spending more than $200,000 on Trump hotels.
“During the committee’s investigation, we found evidence that the Trump campaign and its surrogates misled donors about where their money would go and what it would be used for,” California Democrat Representative Zoe Lofgren said at a hearing. “So not only was there the big lie. There was the big rip-off.”
The Jan. 6 Committee and some legal commentators have also suggested that Mr. Trump could be charged under Section 2383 of Title 18, which makes it a crime to incite, assist, “aid or comfort” a rebellion against the authority and laws of the federal government. However, that crime is rarely charged and so far has not been charged against a January 6 defendant.
In its final report, the commission named five of Trump’s other allies: Mark Meadows, his last chief of staff; and attorneys Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Eastman, Jeffrey Clark and Kenneth Chesebro — as potential co-conspirators with Mr. Trump in actions that the committee said warranted a Justice Department investigation.
Luke Broadwater reporting contributed.