Trump says he's a 'target' of January 6 investigation after receiving letter

Former US president Donald Trump on Tuesday said he had received a letter from the special counsel stating that he is a target of a US investigation into the January 6 Capitol riot aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.

In a statement posted on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said he had received a letter from special counsel Jack Smith on Sunday stating that he has four days to report to the grand jury.

“Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden's DOJ [Department of Justice], sent a letter … stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment,” Mr Trump wrote.

In all caps, Mr Trump wrote: “This witch hunt is all about election interference and a complete and total political weaponisation of law enforcement.”

The federal government issues such letters to inform people they are targets of criminal investigations. Such a letter can be sent before an indictment. Mr Trump received a letter before he was indicted on 37 charges stemming from his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Mr Smith is leading the prosecution in that case. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Mr Smith to both the case in Florida and the case in Washington.

Mr Garland gave Mr Smith the task of heading the January 6 investigation to determine “whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power”, the attorney general said in a statement at the time.

A federal grand jury in Washington has received evidence from former vice president Mike Pence and former White House lawyer Pat Cipollone as part of the 2020 election investigation.

The former president faces additional criminal and civil investigations in New York. A grand jury in Georgia is also considering whether to indict him and his allies over efforts to overturn the state's 2020 election results.

Should Mr Trump face an indictment stemming from the January 6 riot, it would further muddy his efforts to return to the White House. The former reality television star is the current front-runner to secure the Republican nomination for the 2024 election.

More than 1,000 people face charges stemming from the January 6 insurrection, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to halt the certification of President Joe Biden's electoral victory.

Mr Trump has continued to assert that the 2020 election was rigged, despite no evidence having been found to support his claims.

A US House of Representatives committee last year referred Mr Trump to the Justice Department on four criminal charges over the January 6 attack. In high-profile public hearings, panel members detailed the former president's attempts to remain in power in the months after Mr Biden was declared the 2020 election winner.