US special counsel Jack Smith has filed a superseding indictment in the election interference case against former US President Donald Trump, slimming down the allegations against the 2024 presidential nominee in light of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.
Prosecutors have not dropped any of the four charges that they initially brought against the former president. However, the newly retooled indictment has carved out some of Trump’s alleged conduct, including allegations about the attempts to use the Justice Department to promote his false claims of election fraud.
It also adjusts how prosecutors describe the allegations they are continuing to bring about Trump’s election subversion schemes.
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“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 special counsel’s office said.
The replacement indictment thrusts the question of Trump’s effort to steal the 2020 election back into the critical final months of the 2024 campaign. For much of this year, the ex-president’s legal and political narratives merged through his claims that he was the victim of a conspiracy by the Biden administration to weaponise justice against him.
But the Trump legal team’s success in using the appeals process to delay most of his trials – or in the case of charges related to his mishandling of classified documents, have it dismissed entirely – and the transformation of the race with new Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has recently overshadowed the ex-president’s legal woes.
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Smith’s determination to rescue his case after the Supreme Court immunity ruling underscores the huge personal stake that Trump has in winning in November and reacquiring the executive authority that would allow him to end federal proceedings against him.
According to a source familiar, the Trump defence team expected a rewriting of the indictment like this to set up the next phase of the case after the high court’s ruling. A hearing on the case was already scheduled in Judge Tanya Chutkan’s courtroom for next Thursday. But the superseding indictment coming so soon was a surprise.
Private vs official duties
In the reworked indictment, prosecutors argue several times that Trump didn’t have any constitutionally assigned presidential duties regarding the post-election transition of power.
They did this to highlight how the new indictment comports with the Supreme Court ruling, which granted immunity for some of Trump’s conduct that falls within his official powers.
Importantly, the superseding indictment cuts language about the former president’s interactions with senior Justice Department officials and adds language describing when Trump was acting as a candidate and not the president.
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“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 superseding indictment says, in a line that wasn’t in the original indictment.
In several instances, prosecutors repeatedly added language describing Trump as a “candidate,” and descriptions of his alleged co-conspirators as individuals who were not “government officials during the conspiracies” and were instead “acting in their private capacity.”
In another section, the special counsel’s office described a lawsuit that Trump’s campaign filed regarding the results in Georgia, which he narrowly lost. The old indictment said the lawsuit was “filed in his name,” but the reworked indictment says it was “filed in his capacity as a candidate for President.”
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Smith’s team also emphasised their contention that then-Vice President Mike Pence was acting in a “ceremonial role” as president of the Senate when he presided over the Electoral College certification proceedings on January 6, 2021. The distinction is important because prosecutors are arguing that Trump’s pressure campaign on Pence was outside the scope of his official duties.
In addition, prosecutors cut references to Co-Conspirator 4. CNN has identified that person as then-Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who allegedly sought to use his position to aid Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
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