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Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed an amended indictment against Donald Trump alleging election interference.
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The new indictment removes some of Trump’s alleged conduct that gave rise to challenges to presidential immunity.
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He still faces the same four charges that were in the first indictment against him.
Former President Donald Trump was hit with an updated indictment on election interference Tuesday that upholds the four counts against him but removes some of the alleged conduct that may now be protected by presidential immunity.
Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s office announced the new, superseding indictment shortly after a second grand jury voted.
“Today, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a superseding indictment, ECF No. 226, charging the defendant with the same offenses charged in the original indictment,” Smith’s office told Business Insider in an email.
“The superseding indictment, presented to a new grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in this case, reflects the government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s rulings and instructions,” the statement said.
Trump remains charged with the same four counts of interference in the 2020 election. Those charges allege that he conspired to defraud the United States, conspired to obstruct the certification of the electoral vote count, did obstruct that certification, and conspired to deprive voters of the right to have their votes counted.
The revised indictment comes in response to last month’s landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that said presidents enjoy broad protections from prosecution for official acts.
For example, any reference in the initial indictment alleging that he consulted with Justice Department officials to spread false claims about election fraud is being removed.
The new indictment no longer contains any reference to “Accomplice 4,” widely believed to be former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark. According to the first indictment, he “attempted to use the Justice Department to open sham investigations into election crimes and to influence state lawmakers by knowingly making false claims about election fraud.”
But the new indictment also contains new language.
Under the heading “The accomplices of the suspect,” the first indictment stated: “These accomplices included the following persons.”
Here, the new indictment continues: “These accomplices include the following individuals, none of whom were government officials during the conspiracy and all of whom acted in a private capacity,” it says.
The new indictment is 36 pages long; the previous indictment was 45 pages long.
Senior Assistant Special Counsel Molly Gaston said in a separate filing Tuesday that Smith’s office is not requiring Trump to appear in court to be arraigned on the new indictment.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the previous charge. A lawyer for Trump declined to comment. A campaign spokesman also declined to comment, except to provide links to Trump’s series of Truth Social posts in response to the new charge.
Trump called it “an attempt to revive a ‘dead’ witch hunt,” a “direct attack on democracy” and “an act of desperation.”
The GOP presidential candidate also called the new charge “
ridiculous,” and said it “has all the problems of the old charge and should be dropped IMMEDIATELY.”
“This is now Kamala’s weaponized system against her political opponent,” he wrote, before switching into campaign mode.
“All of these scams will fail, just like the Deranged Jack hoax in Florida was completely debunked, and we will win the most important election in our country’s history on November 5th,” he posted. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Read the original article on Business Insider
