Grand jury charges Trump in 2020 election probe: Highlights

In an interview after the indictment, Rudy Giuliani said he wasn't worried by special counsel Jack Smith.

“I don’t worry about the Jack Smiths of this world,” Giuliani said during a Newsmax interview before suggesting the former president's First Amendment rights had been violated.

"You don't get to violate people's First Amendment rights, Smith," said Giuliani, who appears to be co-conspirator 1 in today's indictment.

A grand jury in Washington returned a new four-count indictment criminally charging Trump with his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and subvert lawful votes.

The indictment from special counsel Jack Smith is the result of months of investigating Trump. The grand jury heard testimony for allies, aides and officials all the way up the presidential succession order as former Vice President Mike Pence.

While the third indictment of Trump, the newest charges are likely to land with a more complicated political thud, marking the first time the U.S. criminal justice system has sought to punish a leader for their actions regarding the transfer of power.

Here are five takeaways from the indictment.

The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., said it is working with federal agencies after Trump was indicted, and asked the public to report anything suspicious.

“The Metropolitan Police Department is working closely with our federal law enforcement partners to monitor the situation and plan accordingly to ensure the safety of DC residents and visitors,” MPD said in a statement today. “MPD encourages the public to remain vigilant."

Trump is scheduled to appear at the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington on Thursday after being indicted in connection with efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

On New Year's Day 2021, after Vice President Mike Pence told Trump he had no constitutional authority to reject votes, Trump replied: “You’re too honest,” according to the indictment.

Trump called Pence “and berated him because he had learned that the Vice President had opposed a lawsuit seeking a judicial decision that, at the certification, the Vice President had the authority to reject or return votes to the states under the Constitution,” the indictment reads.

“The Vice President responded that he thought there was no constitutional basis for such authority and that it was improper. In response, the Defendant told the Vice President, “You’re too honest,” the document says.

Hours after that conversation, according to the indictment, Trump tweeted: “The BIG Protest Rally in Washington, D.C., will take place at 11.00 A.M. on January 6th. Locational details to follow. StopTheSteal!”

Reactions to today's indictment are rolling in from Trump's opponents in the 2024 GOP primary.

"One of the reasons our country is in decline is the politicization of the rule of law," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted. "No more excuses—I will end the weaponization of the federal government."

Vivek Ramaswamy committed to pardoning Trump. "The corrupt federal police just won’t stop until they’ve achieved their mission: eliminate Trump," his campaign said.

Trump critic Will Hurd, a former Texas congressman, reiterated his stance that Trump's presidential bid "is driven by an attempt to stay out of prison and scam his supporters into footing his legal bills."

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who called on Trump to end his campaign after his second indictment, reiterated that sentiment after today's indictment.

"The latest indictment reaffirms my earlier call that Donald Trump should step away from the campaign for the good of the country. If not, the voters must choose a different path,” he said.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said, “I remain concerned about the weaponization of Biden’s DOJ and its immense power used against political opponents."

The head of the Anti-Defamation League today called references to Nazi Germany by Trump's campaign inaccurate, offensive and shameful.

“Comparing this indictment to Nazi Germany in the 1930s is factually incorrect, completely inappropriate and flat out offensive,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “As we have said time and again, such comparisons have no place in politics and are shameful.”

Trump’s campaign reacted to the indictment by saying, “The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes.”

Over 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis, and members of other groups were also killed.

The ADL and other groups have objected to Trump’s language surrounding Jewish people in the past, including last year when the former president wrote that American Jews must “get their act together” and “appreciate” Israel “before it is too late.” The comments leaned on a trope that American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the U.S., Jewish groups said.

Read the 60-page superseding indictment filed last week against Trump, aide Walt Nauta, and the third person charged, Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira.

Trump-allied lawyer Kenneth Chesebro appears to be unnamed co-conspirator No. 5 in the Trump indictment.

The document describes this person as "an attorney who assisted in devising and attempting to implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding.”

The indictment also discusses “The December 9 Memorandum ('Fraudulent Elector Instructions') in which co-conspirator No. 5 spelled out instructions on how 'fraudulent electors could mimic legitimate electors in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.'"

NBC News has reached out to Chesebro for comment.

The House Jan. 6 committee report named Chesebro as the figure who created “step by step” instructions for fake electors to follow, including in a Dec. 9 memo authored by Chesebro.

The indictment states that co-conspirator No. 5 called an Arizona attorney on Dec. 8, writing that the attorney subsequently wrote an email outlining the conversation he had with the caller about the fake electors’ strategy. That email is reproduced in the indictment.

The New York Times reported on that same email on July 26, 2022, naming Chesebro as the person who floated the theory.

In an appearance on Fox News shortly after the indictment was released, Trump lawyer John Lauro discussed the case, saying, "We now have the ability in this case to issue our own subpoenas, and we will re-litigate every single issue in the 2020 election."

Lauro and fellow Trump attorney Todd Blanche met in Washington with prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s office Thursday morning, three sources with direct knowledge of the situation told NBC News at the time.