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Trump says he received target letter in Jan. 6 probe, charges likely imminent

The former president indicated he will be charged in special counsel Jack Smith's 2020 election probe.

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Donald Trump on Tuesday said he received a target letter in special counsel Jack Smith's Jan. 6 probe, which, if true, would indicate charges against the former president are coming related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

In a rambling social media post styled as a Trump 2024 campaign statement, the leading GOP presidential candidate said he got the letter on Sunday, which he said gave him four days to appear before the grand jury on the matter.

Don't expect him to testify.

Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed that Trump received the letter, NBC News reported on Tuesday.

The news comes the same day as a hearing set to discuss scheduling and procedures in Trump’s classified documents case. Trump was also informed he was a target ahead of indictment in that case, which alleges he violated the Espionage Act and other criminal laws. He has pleaded not guilty.

The Department of Justice defines a target as "a person as to whom the prosecutor or the grand jury has substantial evidence linking him or her to the commission of a crime and who, in the judgment of the prosecutor, is a putative defendant."

Charges in Smith's 2020 election probe would mark Trump's third indictment overall and, according to the former president, likely not his last. His federal indictment in Florida followed a state indictment in New York on charges of falsifying business records stemming from hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. He pleaded not guilty there as well.

And, as Trump notes in his statement Tuesday, a "probable fourth" indictment may come soon in Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' probe related to 2020 election interference in her state is well underway. Willis has indicated that charges could come this summer.