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- Special Counsel Jack Smith filed two new documents charges against Trump in a superseding indictment.
- Superseding indictments allow for additions and changes to a case in light of new evidence.
- As Smith continues to probe Trump's legal troubles, even more charges could come, a legal expert told Insider.
Special Counsel Jack Smith charged former President Donald Trump with two additional counts in a superseding indictment filed in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case this week.
The new charges, which include obstruction of justice and willful retention of classified documents, come after Trump already pleaded not guilty to 37 counts in the case last month.
A superseding indictment is a criminal complaint brought by a grand jury that changes, adds to, or replaces an original indictment in the wake of new evidence.
The superseding indictment brought in the documents case this week also added a third defendant, maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira, to the case, as well as additional charges against Trump aide Walt Nauta, who pleaded not guilty to the counts against him earlier this month.
Superseding indictments are common in legal cases of all kinds, but can be especially prevalent in high-profile, complex cases like this one, Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told Insider.
"You have to allow for amendments and follow-ups," Tobias said. "Especially in this particular case, one thing is leading to another is leading to another."
The new court documents allege Trump, Nauta, and De Oliveira asked another staffer to delete surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago to prevent it from being provided to a federal grand jury.
The addition of more charges against Trump is unsurprising, Tobias said, given how aggressively Smith has been pursuing the cases against the former president.
Trump has been indicted in two separate prosecutions. He faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York in addition to the classified documents case. The former president is also the subject of at least three additional investigations related to the 2020 election, the January 6 insurrection, and his finances.
With Trump campaigning for the presidency in 2024 — a position that would grant him legal immunity for at least another four years — prosecutors are also on a time crunch as they investigate the former president's myriad legal troubles.
"They're trying to do as much as they can in the shortest period of time," Tobias said. "It shouldn't be surprising that the more they dig, the more they find."
With the clock ticking and enough evidence to make charges, prosecutors likely felt like they needed to make a big move in the documents case last month, with the expectation that they could and would uncover more later, Tobias said.
"They probably did a cost-benefit analysis and wanted to go ahead and move on it," he said.
And as Smith continues to probe Trump's troubles, more charges could always be added again, Tobias said.
Representatives for Trump and De Oliveira did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. A spokesperson for Trump told The Associated Press that the additional charges are an attempt by Biden's administration "to harass President Trump and those around him."