Donald Trump faced a revised federal indictment on Tuesday accusing him of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, with prosecutors narrowing their approach after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution.
U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team obtained the superseding indictment in the Washington case, though it was highly unlikely to proceed to trial ahead of the Nov. 5 election when the Republican Trump faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
The revised indictment lays out the same four charges prosecutors brought against the former president last year, but this one focuses on Trump’s role as a political candidate seeking reelection, rather than as the president at the time.
The Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that Trump is at least presumptively immune from criminal prosecution for actions that were within his constitutional powers as president.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the initial charges, denouncing this case and the others he faces as politically motivated attempts to prevent him from returning to power.
Opinion polls have shown Harris opening up a narrow national lead over Trump since Democratic President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid last month.
This indictment, like the initial one, accuses Trump of a multi-part conspiracy to block the certification of his election defeat to Biden.
It retains allegations Trump pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to use his role presiding over the congressional certification of the election on Jan. 6, 2021, to reject electoral votes from battleground states Trump lost.
“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,” the revised indictment states, language that did not appear in the original charging document.
A mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on that Jan. 6 in an attempt to halt the congressional certification, which remains part of the case against Trump.
FOCUS ON CAMPAIGN
The revised indictment no longer includes allegations that Trump sought to pressure the U.S. Justice Department as he tried to overturn his election defeat, an apparent effort to keep the prosecution alive after the high court found that Trump could not be prosecuted for that conduct.
It excises a reference to Jeffrey Clark, a senior Trump administration Justice Department official who allegedly sought to aid his attempts to undermine the election results, as a co-conspirator, and to former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, who allegedly told Trump his claims of widespread voter fraud were not true.
Bradley Moss, an attorney who specializes in national security, said the revised indictment reflects “a clear effort by the Justice Department to narrow the scope of factual information” to address the Supreme Court’s ruling on immunity.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-brings-new-indictment-against-trump-election-subversion-case-2024-08-27/
