Trump again charged in federal election interference case

The new charges “reflect the government's efforts to respect and implement the decisions of the Supreme Court” after it ruled last month that former presidents would be granted comprehensive legal protection from charges for alleged acts they committed while in office.

On Tuesday afternoon, Special Counsel Jack Smith filed an additional indictment in the federal election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

In a 36-page documentSmith again accuses Trump of opposing the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, which President Joe Biden clearly won.

The indictment limits the charges against the former president and brings the case back into focus in light of the Supreme Court's decision. Immunity decision last monthwhich ran along ideological lines.

Smith and his team said in a separate filing that a new grand jury, which had not previously heard evidence in the case, returned the new indictment on Tuesday. The lawyers wrote that the new indictment “reflects the government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s decisions.”

A source close to Trump's legal team told CBS News on Tuesday: “This was no surprise. Based on the Supreme Court ruling, that's what the government is supposed to do. It doesn't change our position that we believe Smith's case is flawed and should be dismissed.”

In the immunity case, the Supreme Court concluded that former presidents enjoy broad legal protection from prosecution for alleged acts they committed while in office. The decision therefore made Trump immune from prosecution for some of the acts included in Smith's ruling. Original document with 45 pages.

In this indictment, Smith alleges argues that from Election Day 2020 to January 6, 2021, Trump “launched a broad campaign to undermine Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.”

Smith presented a mountain of evidence showing that Trump and his allies spread false information about election fraud, pressured Republican state officials to rig the election results, created fake electors and pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to “unilaterally overturn the legitimate results.”

These actions culminated, according to prosecutors, in the events of January 6, 2021, when an insurrection broke out at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC, leading to five dead and hundreds injured.

The former president was originally charged with four counts in this case – one of which was Conspiracy to defraud the United States, two counts (including one count of conspiracy) of obstruction of an official proceeding, and one count of conspiracy to deprive American citizens of their right to vote and have their votes counted.

In Tuesday's indictment, prosecutors maintained the four counts against Trump, but limited the evidence and struck out an unnamed person listed as an “unnamed co-conspirator.”

The new indictment also repeats allegations that Trump tried to “enlist” then-Vice President Mike Pence in his plan to overturn the 2020 election, but omits at least one phone call between the two candidates. In that December 29, 2020, phone call, the former president allegedly repeated the false claim that the Justice Department had found “serious violations” in the election results and evidence of widespread voter fraud.

In addition, the indictment no longer mentions the former president's conversations with lawyers and White House officials about the integrity of the 2020 election.

The former president has pleaded not guilty to all 91 charges brought against him in four indictments. It currently seems unlikely that this case and the other will go to court before the November elections.