Donald Trump hit with new indictment in federal Jan 6 case

Special counsel Jack Smith (L) has been consulting officials inside the Justice Department for weeks about the new case against Donald Trump. (Photo/AFP)

Special counsel Jack Smith has filed a new indictment against Donald Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election that keeps the same criminal charges but narrows the allegations against the former US president following a Supreme Court opinion conferring broad immunity on former presidents.

Tuesday's indictment removes a section of the indictment that dealt with Trump's interactions with the Justice Department, an area of conduct for which the Supreme Court in a 6-3 opinion last month said Trump was entitled to immunity from prosecution.

The updated criminal case no longer lists as a co-conspirator Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department official who championed Trump's false claims of election fraud.

Trump's co-conspirators were not named in either indictment but have been identified through public records and other means.

Superseding indictment

The special counsel's office said the updated indictment, filed in federal court in Washington DC, was issued by a grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in the case.

The 36-page indictment retained the allegations that Trump attempted to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the electoral vote count.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court that the interactions between Trump and Pence amounted to official conduct for which "Trump is at least presumptively immune from prosecution."

The question, Roberts wrote, is whether the government can rebut "that presumption of immunity."

"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," Smith's team wrote in an accompanying court filing.

Special counsel's original indictment, revealed last August, accused Trump of attempting to use the Justice Department to further what prosecutors alleged was an illegal and fraudulent effort to overturn Joe Biden's victory.

These claims, which the Supreme Court ruled were largely beyond the scope of prosecutorial reach, have been removed from the new, streamlined document.

Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are in a dead heat nationally, according to new post-Democratic National Convention polling that suggests Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s recent departure slightly boosts the Republican. In a direct matchup, Trump edges Harris by 49 percent to 48 percent, but when third-party candidates are factored in, Harris leads 47 percent to 45 percent, according to an Echelon Insights survey.

However a new Reuters/Ipsos poll says Trump's advantage over Harris on the economy and crime is eroding among US voters, a sign the Democratic vice president's campaign is gathering momentum ahead of the November 5 presidential election.

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Source: TRT