Special Counsel Smith files new charges in January 6 Trump case • South Dakota Searchlight

WASHINGTON – In light of the U.S. Supreme Court's sweeping ruling last month on presidential immunity, U.S. special counsel Jack Smith filed a new indictment in federal court on Tuesday alleging that former President Donald Trump sought to overturn the 2020 election in his favor.

In a supplemental indictment filed late in the afternoon, Smith emphasized the private nature of the alleged conduct of Trump and his co-conspirators and omitted allegations that Trump pressured Justice Department officials to overturn the election results.

The new indictment, which is intended to replace the original August 2023 document, came after the Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that presidents enjoy criminal immunity for their official, “core constitutional duties” while in office, but no immunity for unofficial acts.

After the verdict, the judges referred the case back to the Federal Court.

US Department of Justice wants to revive proceedings against Trump over secret documents and argues that the judge's dismissal was “flawed”

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan granted Smith's request for more time to assess how the immunity ruling might affect Trump's election fraud trial. The parties are scheduled to meet for a pretrial hearing on Sept. 5.

In his replacement document, Smith omitted a key section of the original indictment detailing Trump's conversations with former Justice Department officials about his alleged plan to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump's pressure campaign against the department also allegedly included pressuring officials to send letters to state election officials falsely claiming there were investigations into the election results, the original indictment said.

In the subsequent indictment, Smith also draws attention to Trump's lack of a formal role in the states' certification of the election results.

“The defendant had no official duties related to the certification of the election results by any state,” Smith wrote in the revised indictment.

He later added: “The defendant had no official duties related to the summoning of lawful voters or their signing and mailing of their voting certificates.”

At the heart of the charges against Trump are his alleged conspiracies with private attorneys and state election officials to create and deliver false electoral slates to Vice President Mike Pence and Congress for final certification on January 6, 2021. These states included Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Both the earlier and subsequent indictments allege that Trump repeated false claims about election results on his Twitter account before and on January 6, 2021.

However, the new indictment states that while Trump “sometimes used his Twitter account to communicate with the public about official actions and policies as President, he also regularly used it for personal purposes – including, among other things, to knowingly spread false claims of election fraud, urge his supporters to vote on January 6, and encourage them to vote in the U.S. [and] Putting pressure on the Vice President to abuse his ceremonial role in the certification process [.]”

Smith also wrote in the indictment that Trump's remarks to his supporters on January 6, 2021, on the Ellipse – the park between the White House and the Washington Monument – amounted to a “campaign speech at a privately funded and privately organized political rally on the Ellipse.”

The criminal charges against Trump remain unchanged in the new indictment.

Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy to violate rights.