The revised indictment lays out the same four counts that prosecutors brought against the former president last year, but now focuses on Trump’s role as a political candidate seeking re-election rather than his role as then-president.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington is expected to decide in the coming weeks which aspects of the case must be dismissed because of the Supreme Court’s immunity decision.
Trump’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement on his social media platform Truth, Trump said the Supreme Court’s immunity decision should result in the entire case being dismissed. He said: “Smith rewrote the exact same case to get around the Supreme Court’s decision.”
Trump pleaded not guilty to the first count and described this and the other cases he faces as politically motivated attempts to prevent his return to power.
Polls show Harris has opened a narrow lead over Trump nationwide since Democratic President Joe Biden abandoned his bid for re-election last month.
Article 1 of 4 Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Glendale, Arizona, U.S., August 23, 2024. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo
It continues to allege that Trump pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to use his role as chairman of the congressional certification of the election on January 6, 2021, to reject electoral votes from swing states lost by Trump.
“The defendant had no official obligations related to the certification process, but as a candidate he had a personal interest in being declared the winner of the election,” the revised indictment states. This wording was not included in the original indictment.
On January 6, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to prevent congressional confirmation, which remains part of the process against Trump.
Focus on campaign
The revised indictment no longer includes allegations that Trump attempted to pressure the U.S. Justice Department to overturn his election loss, an apparent attempt to preserve the prosecution after the Supreme Court found that Trump could not be prosecuted for such conduct.
It omits a reference to Jeffrey Clark, a senior official in the Trump administration’s Justice Department who allegedly assisted him in his attempts to manipulate the election results and was described as a co-conspirator. It also omits a reference to former US Attorney General Bill Barr, who allegedly told Trump that his claims of widespread election fraud were untrue.
Bradley Moss, a lawyer specializing in national security, said the revised indictment reflected “a clear attempt by the Justice Department to limit the scope of the actual information” in response to the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.
The revised indictment is 36 pages long, nine pages shorter than the original, and is based on key testimony and evidence from witnesses mostly outside the federal government, including former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who the indictment alleges was pressured by Trump and a co-conspirator to call a special session hearing based on false claims of election fraud.
The case, one of four criminal proceedings against Trump, was delayed for months while Trump insisted on immunity. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision was supported by a conservative majority that includes three justices nominated by Trump.
In May, Trump was found guilty by a New York jury of falsifying documents to cover up the payment of hush money to a porn star. Sentencing is scheduled for September 18, but he has asked a judge to delay sentencing until after the November 5 election.
Smith’s move came ahead of Friday’s deadline for his office and Trump’s lawyers to propose further action in the election tampering case following the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.
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Reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Sarah N. Lynch; additional reporting by Jack Queen; editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
