Washington — Special counsel Jack Smith filed an indictment against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, again accusing Trump of opposing the peaceful transfer of power. 2020 presidential electionSmith dropped the charges shortly afterwards. Landmark decision of the Supreme Court Donald Trump, one of the people elected to the presidency earlier this year, said that one of the people elected to the presidency
The new 36-page indictment is based on a more sophisticated set of alleged criminal acts after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump is immune from prosecution for some of the conduct involved in Smith's case. The original 45-page indictment Returned last year.
Prosecutors retained four charges against Trump that he previously faced — including conspiracy to defraud the United States — but limited the evidence included in the indictment and even removed an unnamed individual from the indictment. List of unindicted co-conspiratorsThe original indictment described the man as “a Justice Department official who worked on civil matters and who conspired with the defendants to use the Justice Department to launch fraudulent election crime investigations and intentionally attempt to influence state legislatures with false claims of election fraud.” This was believed to be a man who worked as a Justice Department official. Jeffery ClarkeWho led the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division and later served as acting head of the Civil Division.
Reacting to the new indictment on social media, Clark said the Supreme Court's July ruling “vindicates” his decision not to cooperate with Smith's investigation and accused prosecutors of targeting Trump.
Smith and his team said a federal grand jury in Washington returned the indictment on Tuesday. Prosecutors said they do not oppose waiving Trump's appearance in the indictment over the new charges.
In response to the indictment, the former president accused Smith of trying to interfere in the November election, in which he faces Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. He claimed in a series of social media posts that Smith was illegally appointed and called her “deranged.” Trump also said the charges should be dismissed “immediately.”
a federal judge in Florida Charges dropped The case filed by Smith against Trump relates to the handling of sensitive government documents, on the grounds that the appointment of the special counsel was unlawful. Smith has said that Trump's appointment of the special counsel was unlawful. appealed that decision and are pressing to revive the case.
“For him to do this so soon after our victories in the Supreme Court on immunity & other issues is shocking,” Trump wrote.
Detailing alleged acts such as creating a fake presidential candidate list or working with his personal lawyers on a legal strategy to thwart the transfer of power, Smith in the new indictment accused the former president of using his role as a candidate for office — not as president of the United States — to overturn the election results.
The indictment is a response to a Supreme Court decision last month in which the court's conservative majority ruled that presidents and former presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for “official acts” committed during their time in office. Some of the conduct alleged in Smith's original indictment, such as Trump's discussions with the Justice Department after the 2020 presidential election, was disqualified, according to a July opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts.
Roberts divided presidential conduct into three categories: official acts that are part of the president's “basic constitutional powers”; other official acts that are outside his “exclusive authority”; and unofficial acts. Presidents have “absolute” immunity for the first category; “presumed” immunity for the second, which can be rebutted by the government; and no immunity for the third.
Applying that legal test, the high court ruled that the charges against Trump cannot be linked to conduct unrelated to his official responsibilities as president. Other alleged conduct contained in the charging documents — including Trump's conversations with then-Vice President Mike Pence before Congress' certification of the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021 — is a closer call, according to the Supreme Court. Other actions unrelated to the election campaign are fair game for prosecution, the court said.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett agreed, saying she believed Trump's alleged effort to create a false list of voters was private and “therefore should not be protected.”
Trump's lawyer too acknowledged during debate In his indictment presented to judges in April, he said some of the acts covered in the indictment were “private” conduct that could not be protected from criminal charges, such as the hiring of outside lawyers who helped execute the alleged scheme to submit a fake list of voters.
The High Court assigned this task to the judge monitoring the case, US District Court Judge Tanya ChutkanSmith's indictment will be analyzed to determine which of the alleged acts were “official” and “unofficial”.
After the mandate returned to her court Following the Supreme Court's decision, Chutkan asked prosecutors to file a brief outlining their arguments for the way forward in the case by Aug. 30. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Sept. 5.
By filing charges against the former president, the special counsel has opted to forgo a potential evidentiary hearing in the case, which would have forced prosecutors to publicly reveal the evidence they collected against Trump before the trial.
A source close to Trump's legal team told CBS News on Tuesday: “This was not a surprise. This is what the government should do based on what the Supreme Court did. It doesn't change our position that we believe Smith's case is flawed and should be dismissed.”
The source said Trump's lawyers would ask for more time to brief the case, which could delay the start of the trial if Judge Chutkan agrees.
Blacksmith Accusations against Trump He was convicted a year ago on four counts related to his conduct following the 2020 presidential election. Prosecutors alleged the former president conspired to thwart the peaceful transfer of power through a pressure campaign at the state and federal levels, culminating in January 6 attack on the Capitol,
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the original charges and denied all wrongdoing.
Much of the conduct alleged in that first indictment is present in Smith's new indictment, with notable exceptions, including the former president's work with Justice Department officials and a reference to the “Co-Conspirator 4.” The Supreme Court ruled that such conduct is entirely immune from prosecution because they said it falls under Trump's special constitutional authority.
Prosecutors accused Trump of pressuring state officials to overturn his election results and said he and five unnamed co-conspirators worked to compile a list of alternate electors ahead of the election certification in Washington, D.C.
Notably, the new indictment also reiterates the allegation that Trump tried to “involve” Pence in his alleged scheme, but clarifies that prosecutors view Pence in this case not as the vice president, but as Trump's running mate in the political race. It also emphasizes Pence's role “based on the Constitution” as the president of the Senate, who played a “ceremonial role” during the certification of electoral votes on January 6.
But the document omits at least one call between Trump and Pence on Dec. 29, 2020, in which the former president reportedly told him he falsely claimed the Justice Department was finding “major violations.” It also appears to not include mention of Trump's discussions with White House lawyers or agency heads about the integrity of the 2020 election, such as claims by high-ranking government officials that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Prosecutors in the new filing referred to Trump's comments outside the White House on Jan. 6 as “a campaign speech at a privately funded, privately organized political rally held on the Ellipse.” During his speech to supporters, the former president continued to make baseless claims that the election was rigged against him and encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol to protest the election results.
Robert Costa contributed to this report.