Trump responds to new indictment by sharing social media posts with QAnon links

Donald Trump has shared more than a dozen posts on his social media network that call for the trial or jailing of legislators who investigated the attack on the US Capitol and special counsel Jack Smith, along with images that reference the QAnon conspiracy theory.

The former president began posting a string of messages on Tuesday evening after Mr Smith filed a new indictment against him over his efforts to undo his loss in the 2020 presidential election.

The new indictment keeps the same criminal charges but narrows the allegations against Mr Trump following a Supreme Court opinion last month that extended broad immunity to former presidents.

Mr Trump reposted a doctored image that was made to look like President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in orange prison jumpsuits, among other political figures, and a lewd post about Ms Harris and Ms Clinton that referenced a sex act.

One post seemed to suggest former president Barack Obama should be tried in a military court.

Mr Trump has long talked about seeking retribution against perceived enemies if he wins a second term.

He has publicly bristled in recent weeks at the advice of his campaign advisers to focus his message on policy around the economy and the border, rather than indulge in personal attacks that were seen as distracting from the case he is trying to make to voters.

His campaign did not respond to a message seeking comment on Wednesday about the flurry of posts on Truth Social, the former president’s social media network where he communicates primarily to his most devoted base of supporters.

On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the Republican candidate posted messages in his own words reacting to the indictment and renewing his complaints about the gag order he is under in his New York hush money criminal case.

Mr Trump then began sharing more than a dozen posts from other users on the network that included the calls for Mr Smith to be prosecuted, the legislators on the House committee investigating the Capitol attack to be jailed, and more.

One image showed Mr Smith with devil horns and red eyes.

A spokesman for Smith declined to comment on Wednesday.

James Singer, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said the posts show what Mr Trump is offering the country: “Prosecuting political opponents, using dangerous conspiracy theories to justify harmful policies, and dividing Americans against each other.”

One post featured an image of Mr Trump and former president Barack Obama with the words: “All roads lead to Obama… retruth if you want public military tribunals.”

Some of the other posts Mr Trump shared included phrases circulated among followers of QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy theory, including “Nothing can stop what is coming,” “Hold the line” and “WWG1WGA”, which is an initialism for “Where we go one, we go all.”

Mr Trump in recent years has openly embraced followers of QAnon after years of winking at the theory, centred on the baseless belief that Mr Trump is waging a secret campaign against enemies in the “deep state” and a child sex trafficking ring run by satanic peadophiles and cannibals.

The former president’s indulgence of the conspiracy theory is among the ways he has embraced the far-right fringe of his political movement.

Mr Trump has also championed those jailed for their role in the violent January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

He is listed as an invited guest speaker at the J6 Awards Gala fundraiser on September 5 at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, for defendants charged in the insurrection.

The event is advertised online as intending to “honour and celebrate the twenty defendants who contributed to the powerful ‘Justice For All’ song”.

Mr Trump has played the song — a version of the Star-Spangled Banner sung by a group of defendants jailed over their alleged roles in the 2021 violence and recorded over a jail phone line, overlaid with Mr Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance — at some of his campaign rallies in recent years.

On Wednesday, Trump’s campaign confirmed that the GOP nominee will not be in attendance at next week’s J6 Awards Gala.

Organisers for the event, which also lists Rudy Giuliani and Anthony Raimondi as speakers, did not immediately respond to a message on Wednesday seeking more details.

The former president vowed to pardon many of those convicted.

He has in the past spoken at or recorded messages for groups fundraising to support the defendants, including one at his Bedminster club last year, and in March 2023 hosted a dinner for family members of the defendants.