WASHINGTON – The prosecutor in the election interference case against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday obtained a new indictment against Trump. The new indictment is expected to address the Supreme Court’s July decision that gave Trump broad immunity from charges related to his official actions as president.
The new indictment dropped charges against an unindicted co-conspirator, Jeffrey Clark, who was then an assistant attorney general. Clark helped Trump pressure other Justice Department agencies to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election.
The Supreme Court had ruled that Trump could not be prosecuted for this conduct because the Justice Department was part of the executive branch, which was under his control as president.
Accusation: Trump’s claims of widespread election fraud in 2020 “were false”
A grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in the case updated the indictment to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s decision, according to Peter Carr, a spokesman for Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith.
“Despite his defeat, the defendant – who was also the incumbent president – was determined to remain in power,” the indictment states. “Therefore, more than two months after Election Day on November 3, 2020, the defendant spread lies that the election had been subject to decisive voter fraud and that he had in fact won. These claims were false, and the defendant knew them to be false.”
Trump was accused of attempting to misuse the Justice Department to launch baseless investigations into voter fraud and to influence state legislatures with claims he allegedly knew to be false. State election officials and then-Attorney General Bill Barr had told him that the allegations of widespread voter fraud had been investigated and dismissed.
But the Supreme Court ruled that the former president could not be prosecuted for acts that fell within his exclusive constitutional jurisdiction.
“Trump therefore enjoys absolute immunity from prosecution for the conduct alleged in connection with his conversations with Justice Department officials,” Chief Judge John Roberts wrote for the court.
Chutkan has yet to decide which charges against Trump are consistent with the Supreme Court ruling
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the case, has yet to decide which charges – if any – can withstand the Supreme Court’s ruling. Trump argued the case should be dismissed, but Smith is scheduled to present a proposed schedule of arguments on the charges on Friday.
The new indictment also alleges that then-Vice President Mike Pence acted in his capacity as President of the Senate when he oversaw the counting of Electoral College votes on January 6, 2021. Pence ignored Trump’s requests to recognize Republican electoral slates in states won by President Joe Biden.
The Supreme Court had ruled that Trump’s supposed immunity for official acts could be rebutted by the circumstances. For example, the court said that despite the vice president’s extensive role in advising and assisting the president, his responsibility to “preside over the Senate” was “not a function of the ‘executive branch.'”
“Ultimately, it is the government’s responsibility to rebut the presumption of immunity,” Roberts wrote in sending the case back to Chutkan for review.
Another change in the new indictment was that unindicted co-conspirators were listed as “private” attorneys and consultants. The change affected attorneys Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, who supported Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud and developed the plan to submit alternate slates of voters.
The private lawyers were not charged in the federal case, but they are being charged in the state cases in Arizona and Georgia. Powell and Chesebro pleaded guilty in Georgia. The “private” political consultant was Boris Epshteyn, who was charged in Arizona.
