Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed an updated indictment charging ex-president Donald Trump with election interference, with the new indictment rewritten to address the Trump Court’s made-up new rule granting presidents nearly limitless immunity from prosecution for “official acts.”
Trump, in the new indictment, faces the same four charges from the original indictment returned by a grand jury in 2023.
The superseding indictment was heard by a new grand jury, a Justice Department spokesperson said on Tuesday, and “reflects the government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings and remand instructions.”
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Trump, last year, pleaded not guilty in the case, which alleges that he led a “criminal scheme” to overturn the 2020 presidential election to remain in power.
The Trump Court ruled last month that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for what it termed “official acts,” and sent the case back to a federal district court to sort out which charges should be allowed to stand.
The editing work visible in the new indictment includes the removal of references to the Justice Department, and the emphasis on Trump using his campaign “to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger and erode public faith in the administration of the election.”
The new indictment also makes the case that Trump got advice on the execution of the scheme by people “acting in a private capacity,” and that none of those who helped craft the plan to overturn the election “were government officials during the conspiracies.”
Smith also adding clarifying language in the new indictment stressing that Trump “had no official responsibilities related to any state’s certification of the election results” and that Trump was acting “not as President but in his capacity as a candidate for office.”
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Chris Graham
