Fresh federal indictment filed against Donald Trump in January 6 case

Washington: Donald Trump has been hit by a new federal indictment over his bid to overturn his 2020 election defeat, with prosecutors narrowing their approach after a US Supreme Court ruling that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution.

US Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team obtained a new indictment in the Washington case.

Former US president Donald Trump and special counsel Jack Smith.Credit: AP, Reuters

The revised indictment lays out the same four charges it brought against the Republican former president last year focusing on Trump’s role as a political candidate seeking re-election, rather than as the president at the time.

Attorneys for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The revised indictment no longer includes allegations that Trump sought to pressure the US Justice Department in his bid to overturn his election defeat, an apparent effort to keep the prosecution alive after the high court found that Trump could not be prosecuted for that conduct.

This indictment, like the initial one, accuses Trump of a multipart conspiracy to block the certification of his election defeat to Democratic President Joe Biden.

Trump is again seeking election as the Republican candidate, this time in a race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. The election takes place on November 5 this year.

The case was presented to a new grand jury, one that had not heard evidence from the original case, a Justice Department spokesman said.

The new version of the indictment hinges on key testimony and evidence from witnesses largely outside the federal government, such as former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, whom the indictment says was pressured by Trump and a co-conspirator to call a special session to hold a hearing based on bogus assertions of voter fraud.

The indictment retained the allegations that Trump attempted to pressure then-vice president Mike Pence to refuse to certify the electoral vote count.

The Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that Trump cannot be prosecuted for actions that were within his constitutional powers as president.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court that the interactions between Trump and Pence amounted to official conduct for which “Trump is at least presumptively immune from prosecution”.

The question, Roberts wrote, is whether the government can rebut “that presumption of immunity”.

Reuters, AP

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