Special Counsel files revised charges against Donald Trump in January 6 case

CNN
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On Tuesday, special counsel Jack Smith filed an additional indictment in the election interference case against former President Donald Trump. In light of the Supreme Court's immunity decision, the charges against the 2024 presidential candidate were watered down.

Prosecutors have not dropped any of the four charges they originally brought against the former president, but the redrafted indictment has fleshed out some of the conduct Trump alleged, including allegations of attempts to misuse the Justice Department to bolster his false claims of election fraud.

It also changes the way prosecutors describe the allegations they continue to make related to Trump's plans to rig the election.

“The new indictment, 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 decisions and instructions in Trump v. United States,” the special counsel's office said.

The new charges push the question of Trump's attempt to rig the 2020 election back to the crucial final months of the 2024 campaign. For much of this year, the former president's legal and political arguments were mixed up by his claims that he was the victim of a conspiracy by the Biden administration to use the justice system as a weapon against him.

But the success of Trump's legal team in using the appeals process to delay most of his trials – or, in the case of charges related to the misuse of classified documents, to drop them altogether – and the changes in the race for the new Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, have overshadowed the ex-president's legal troubles of late.

Smith's determination to save his case after the Supreme Court's immunity ruling underscores how much personal interest Trump has in winning in November and regaining the executive power that would allow him to end the federal case against him.

According to a source familiar with the matter, Trump's defense team expected such a new indictment to begin the next phase of the trial after the Supreme Court's ruling. A hearing on the case was already scheduled for next Thursday in Judge Tanya Chutkan's courtroom. But that the new indictment came as a surprise so soon.

In the revised indictment, prosecutors repeatedly argue that Trump did not have any of the presidential duties assigned to him by the Constitution with regard to the transfer of power after the election.

They wanted to clarify the extent to which the new charges were compatible with the Supreme Court ruling, which granted Trump immunity for some of his conduct that fell within his jurisdiction.

It is important to note that the new indictment omits statements about the former president's contacts with senior Justice Department officials. New statements are added describing when Trump appeared as a candidate and not as president.

“The defendant had no official obligations related to the certification process, but as a candidate he had a personal interest in being declared the winner of the election,” the new indictment states, in a line that did not appear in the original indictment.

In several cases, prosecutors repeatedly added language referring to Trump as a “candidate” and descriptions of his alleged co-conspirators as individuals who were not “government officials” but “acting in a private capacity” during the conspiracies.

In another section, the special counsel's office described a lawsuit filed by Trump's campaign related to the Georgia election results, which he narrowly lost. The old indictment said the lawsuit was “filed on his behalf,” but the revised indictment says it was “filed in his capacity as a candidate for president.”

Smith's team also emphasized their claim that then-Vice President Mike Pence was acting in a “ceremonial role” as President of the Senate when he presided over the Electoral College certification process on Jan. 6, 2021. The distinction is important because prosecutors argue that Trump's pressure campaign against Pence was outside the scope of his official duties.

In addition, prosecutors have deleted references to Co-conspirator 4. CNN identified that person as then-Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, who allegedly tried to use his position to support Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

CNN's Holmes Lybrand and Casey Gannon contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional details.