Emily Elconin/Getty, The Washington Post/Getty, Tyler Le/BI
- Special counsel Jack Smith filed a revised election interference indictment against Donald Trump.
- The new indictment removes some of Trump's alleged conduct that risked presidential immunity challenges.
- He still faces the same four charges that were in the first indictment against him.
Former President Donald Trump was hit with a revised election interference indictment on Tuesday that keeps the same four counts against him but removes some of the alleged conduct that may now be protected by presidential immunity.
The office of special counsel Jack Smith announced the new, superseding indictment shortly after a second grand jury voted.
"Today, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a superseding indictment, ECF No. 226, charging the defendant with the same criminal offenses that were charged in the original indictment," Smith's office said in an email to Business Insider.
"The superseding indictment, which was presented to a new grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in this case, reflects the Government's efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court's holdings and remand instructions," the statement continued.
Trump remains charged with the same four counts of interfering with the 2020 election. Those counts allege that he conspired to defraud the United States, that he conspired to obstruct the certification of the electoral vote count, that he did obstruct that certification, and that he conspired to deprive voters of the right to have their votes counted.
The re-tooled indictment is a response to the US Supreme Court's landmark opinion from last month that provides presidents with broad protection from being prosecuted for official acts.
It removes, for example, any reference from the first indictment that alleges he conferred with Justice Department officials in promoting false claims of election fraud.
Gone from the new indictment is any reference to "Co-Conspirator 4," widely assumed to be former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who the first indictment alleged "attempted to use the Justice Department to open sham election crime investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud.
But the new indictment adds some language, too.
Under the heading "The Defendant's Co-Conspirators," the first indictment stated, "These co-conspirators included the following individuals."
Here, the new indictment elaborates. "These co-conspirators included the following individuals, none of whom were government officials during the conspiracy and all of whom were acting in a private capacity," it says.
The new indictment is 36 pages long; the previous indictment was 45 pages long.
Senior Assistant Special Counsel Molly Gaston said in a separate filing Tuesday that Smith's office is not asking that Trump appear in court to be arraigned on the new indictment.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the previous indictment. An attorney for Trump declined to comment. A campaign spokesperson also declined to comment except to forward links to Trump's string of Truth Social posts responding to the new indictment.
In them, Trump called it "an effort to resurrect a 'dead' Witch Hunt," a "direct assault on Democracy," and "an act of desperation."
The GOP presidential candidate also called the new indictment "
ridiculous," and said it "has all the problems of the old indictment and should be dismissed IMMEDIATELY."
"This is now Kamala's Weaponized System against her Political Opponent," he wrote, before switching to campaign mode.
"All of these Scams will fail, just as Deranged Jack's Hoax in Florida has been fully dismissed, and we will win the Most Important Election in the History of our Country on November 5th," he posted. "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"