Fontrunners of the race of 2024 US Presidentail Elections, the former president of the US Donald Trump had received a letter from Special Counsel Jack Smith stating that he is a target of a grand jury investigation into efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat.

This letter is an indication he could soon be charged by U.S. prosecutors.

Officials have testified against Trump and said that during his final months in office, Trump pressured them with false claims of widespread voter fraud. His supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in a Jan. 6, 2021, bid to stop Congress from certifying Biden's win.

Smith "sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation," Trump wrote on his Truth Social media site.

It was one of a series of developments in the various criminal investigations into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his election defeat.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Tuesday announced criminal charges against 16 Trump supporters who allegedly submitted a phony slate of electors in an effort to overturn his 2020 defeat in that state. A prosecutor in Georgia is investigating a similar effort in that state.

Smith has already brought criminal charges against Trump in a separate federal case alleging he unlawfully retained national security documents after leaving office in 2021 and conspired to obstruct efforts to retrieve them. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Trump's lawyers on Tuesday asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over that case, to consider the timing of his presidential campaign when deciding when the trial should take place. Cannon appeared skeptical of prosecutors' request for a December start, but also did not seem inclined to grant Trump's request for an indefinite delay.

As part of the 2020 election investigation, a grand jury at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., has heard testimony from high-profile former Trump administration officials, including Mike Pence, who served as Trump's vice president.

Trump said Smith's office had given him "a very short 4 days" to appear before the grand jury in the probe in his social media.

Source: Reuters