For 2 1/2 years after rioters swarmed the Capitol, criminal investigations of Donald Trump and his allies for attempting to overturn the 2020 election percolated quietly. Now, just as another presidential campaign featuring Trump accelerates toward primary season, the assorted local, state and federal probes are bursting into highly visible action - seemingly all at once.
Trump disclosed on Tuesday he had been named as a target in special counsel Jack Smith's probe of election interference. Hours later, the attorney general of Michigan announced she had issued forgery charges against 16 Trump supporters who had posed as the state's presidential electors. A county prosecutor in Georgia is preparing to present a sweeping case to a grand jury, with indictments possible within weeks. And the attorney general of Arizona in recent months has ramped up a probe into attempts to undermine the 2020 results in that state.