What is a target letter? What to know about the document Trump received from DOJ special counsel Jack Smith
CBSN
Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday he received a letter Sunday informing him that he is a target of Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into efforts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 election.
A target letter is official correspondence that prosecutors send to people under investigation, CBS News legal contributor and Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson explained. It alerts the recipient that they are under investigation, and that the investigation is nearing the final stages.
"And usually, as this target letter apparently did, to say to the person 'you can come and testify before the grand jury," Levinson said.
Two Native Hawaiian brothers who were convicted in the 1991 killing of a woman visiting Hawaii allege in a federal lawsuit that local police framed them "under immense pressure to solve the high-profile murder" then botched an investigation last year that would have revealed the real killer using advancements in DNA technology.
In one of his first acts after returning to the Oval Office this week, President Trump tasked federal agencies with developing ways to potentially ease prices for U.S. consumers. But experts warn that his administration's crackdown on immigration could both drive up inflation as well as hurt a range of businesses by shrinking the nation's workforce.
Meta is denying claims circulating on social media that it forced Facebook and Instagram users to follow President Trump's official accounts, saying the changes some users noticed were standard practices tied to the transition of the POTUS account from the previous administration to the incoming one.