In an attempt to salvage his prosecution against Donald Trump, special counsel Jack Smith secured a reindictment Tuesday against the 45th president on four felony charges in his Washington, D.C., election interference case.
The case revolves around Trump’s various challenges to the 2020 election outcome, most notably his effort to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Washington federal grand jury’s new 36-page indictment is similar to the previous indictment in the case. However, in early July, the U.S. Supreme Court determined Trump had immunity for actions taken in his official capacity as president. The new indictment is Smith’s attempt to recast his case in light of the court’s immunity ruling.
Similar to the initial August 2023 indictment for election interference, the four counts in the indictment are conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct, an official proceeding; conspiracy against rights.
The new Tuesday indictment includes the same four criminal charges against Trump from Smith’s previous indictment in the same Washington case. However, in an attempt to avoid conflicting with the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, it removes certain specific allegations under the conspiracy to defraud the United States charge that could be considered part of Trump’s official presidential capacity, Politico reported.
Trump posted first on Truth Social and then to his other social media accounts that “deranged Jack Smith” is trying to resurrect a “dead” case and said the charges should be dismissed.
Trump has been indicted in four separate cases, from election interference to illegally retaining classified documents. He was convicted in May in New York City in the so-called hush money case involving Stormy Daniels. He was also indicted in Fulton County, Georgia, on an election interference case for challenging the outcome of the election in a state Biden carried in 2020. The other case is Smith’s classified documents case against Trump in Florida.
The new indictment in Washington comes one day after Smith appealed a federal judge’s ruling tossing out his Florida classified documents case. In that case, the judge determined that Smith was not legally qualified to prosecute Trump because he was not appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
