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29-08-2024
WASHINGTON: US Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment against former president Donald Trump for his alleged attempts to interfere in the 2020 election following his loss to Joe Biden.
The new charging document tailors the allegations against Trump to the recent US Supreme Court ruling that presidents are immune from prosecution for certain in-office acts.
The re-tooled indictment maintains four criminal counts against Trump, but it carves out some of the descriptions of his alleged conduct.
Trump has denied the election interference allegations, though he has maintained his claim without evidence that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
The new indictment leaves in place the four crimes Trump is accused of committing: Conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, attempting to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.
Trump has previously pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The former president’s personal lawyer Todd Blanche referred media to the Trump campaign, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the new indictment was “an effort to resurrect a ‘dead’ Witch Hunt” and “distract the American People” from the election.
He called for it to be “dismissed IMMEDIATELY”.
A source close to Trump’s legal team told media that the new indictment “was not a surprise”.
“This is what the government is supposed to do based on what the Supreme Court did,” the source said. “It doesn’t change our position that we believe Smith’s case is flawed and it should be dismissed.”
The new charging document – which was slimmed down from 45 to 36 pages re-works the language of the allegations and refines the ways it argues that the former president allegedly committed these crimes to comport with the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
For example, the new indictment drops the claim that Trump tried to pressure justice department officials to work to overturn his defeat. The high court ruled that Trump’s direction to justice officials was not illegal.
The special counsel’s office explained the reason for the new indictment in a statement on Tuesday.
“The superseding indictment, which was 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 holdings and remand instructions in Trump v. United States,” the office said.
The justice department declined to comment further.
The new charging document argues that Trump acted as a private citizen and not as president when he undertook the alleged scheme to sway the election.
“The Defendant had no official responsibilities related to the certification proceeding, but he did have a personal interest as a candidate in being named the winner of the election,” reads one new line in the indictment.
Another new line refers to a lawsuit filed by his campaign in Georgia. The old language said the suit was “filed in his name,” but the new indictment says it was “filed in his capacity as a candidate for President.”
The new indictment also appears to have removed the charges against Jeffrey Clark, a former justice department official who played a key role in the so-called fake electors’ scheme, according to prosecutors. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
