The revised charges filed by the Justice Department against former US President Donald Trump, regarding his alleged interference in the 2020 election, pose a new obstacle to his potential re-election bid.
In response to last month’s Supreme Court decision, which granted presidents broad immunity for official actions, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team reframed the indictment.
The Supreme Court ruled that Trump has immunity for conversations with US Justice Department officials but remanded the case to lower courts to determine immunity for three other categories.
The revised charges strategically omit language alleging Trump leveraged the Justice Department to promote claims of electoral fraud, according to lawyers for Special Counsel Jack Smith.
“Today, a federal grand jury in the district of Columbia returned a superseding indictment, charging the defendant with the same criminal offenses that were charged in the original indictment,” the lawyers said in a filing that accompanied the indictment.
“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 revised indictment lays out the same four criminal counts against Trump, which he denies, but they now relate to his status as a political candidate rather than a sitting president.
However, it appears unlikely that the case, and other criminal cases faced by the Republican candidate, will reach court before this year’s election on November 5.
Trump has repeatedly described the pile of cases against him as a “witch hunt”.
Kamala Harris, vice-president and Democratic nominee, asked citizens last week to “imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States”.
Harris said the consequences would be serious.
