Did President Donald Trump indict Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on his last day in office? No, that's not true. The claim was made without proof and the U.S. Constitution reserves indictment power to grand juries, not presidents. Barrett was, in fact, Trump's pick for the Supreme Court after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. Barrett took the oath of office in October 2020. There is no publicly available evidence she is under investigation or has been indicted.
The claim appeared as a video published on Bitchute.com by "Dark Outpost with David Zublick" on March 30, 2021, titled "Dark Outpost 03-30-2021 Amy Coney Barrett Indicted" (archived here) with a line under the video saying:
President Donald Trump Indicted Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on his last day in office. She will face a ...
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Dark Outpost 03-30-2021 Amy Coney Barrett Indicted
✅ Enjoy The Healthy Aging Support of Collagen Get 51% Off Here ➡️ http://healthwithdavid.com This is my FAV trusted source ^^^^ President Donald Trump Indicted Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on his last day in office. She will ...
The Dark Outpost video with David Zublick peddles the debunked conspiracy theory that Trump will return to power despite having lost the November 3, 2020, presidential election. The Dark Outpost is self-described as, "The Dark Outpost explores the truth behind the headlines, and brings you information the mainstream media and the government doesn't want you to know."
At 8:03 in the video, Zublick makes his claims about Barrett:
Dark Outpost has learned that on his last day in the White House, January the 19th, Donald Trump co-authored a flurry of sealed indictments. Many of which we've talked about already on this broadcast in several previous programs. But one of these indictments was unknown to us until just last night and that is Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has been charged with high crimes and misdemeanors against America and its people, according to a former U.S. DOJ employee who helped Trump and then acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen research the case work for this indictment.
There is no evidence that the president was a "co-author" of sealed indictments. The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that in the federal system, felony prosecution begins with an indictment by grand jury, it does not grant to the president, in the executive branch, the power to indict. Criminal trials are specifically a function of the judicial branch. There is no mention of "indictment" under Article II in the U.S. Constitution which lays out the powers of the president of the United States of America.
Zublick cites an unidentified source in making the claim and provides no corroborating evidence, nor characterization of the anonymous source's expertise, access to White House deliberations, nor other measures of credibility.
My source says that Trump and Rosen signed the indictment at 9:30 pm on January the 19th. The charges against Barrett include treason, conspiring with the enemy and conduct unbecoming of a Supreme Court Justice. Trump is expected to unseal the indictment along with many others once he returns to power before the end of the year. Many are now saying it will be between April and the end of August."
Joe Biden became president of the United States as of 12:01 p.m. January 20, 2021, under procedures spelled out in the U.S. Constitution. The unfounded QAnon conspiracy theory posits that Trump will be returned to power, but the expected date has changed from January, 2021 to March to now April to August. The theory claims Trump is waging a secret war against satanic Hollywood elites, Democratic elected officials and business leaders who are running a secret international child sex trafficking ring.
Lead Stories has debunked multiple claims made by QAnon supporters including reports here and here.
Celebrities including Tom Hanks, Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama have been falsely accused in various QAnon conspiracies, as Lead Stories previously debunked here. Barrett is the latest high-profile figure whose named has suddenly cropped up in baseless QAnon claims.
Trump nominated Barrett to the Supreme Court on September 26, 2020. The Republican controlled Senate confirmed her on October 27, 2020. She immediately recused herself from the election-challenging case in Pennsylvania as MSNBC reported. In the video, Zublick refers to the recusal as Barrett having "stabbed Trump in the back" by not voting to overturn the election results.
Starting at 8:50 in the video, Zublick says:
Our source said Trump spent days pondering whether to formally charge the 49-year-old mother of seven children but after careful and due consideration came to the conclusion that Barrett's betrayal to both him and the United States Constitution could not go unpunished.
