Donald Trump

Feds file new indictment in Trump Jan. 6 case, keeping charges intact but narrowing allegations

The updated criminal case no longer lists as a co-conspirator Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department official who championed Trump’s false claims of election fraud

DETROIT, MICHIGAN – AUGUST 26: Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the National Guard Association of the United States’ 146th General Conference & Exhibition at Huntington Place Convention Center on August 26, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. Michigan’s importance to the Trump re-election campaign has become front and center as he marks his eighth visit to the state this year, including an additional event in Eaton County on August 29th.
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Special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday filed a new indictment against Donald Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election that keeps the same criminal charges but narrows the allegations against him following a Supreme Court opinion conferring broad immunity on former presidents.

The new indictment removes a section of the indictment that dealt with Trump's interactions with the Justice Department, an area of conduct for which the Supreme Court in a 6-3 opinion last month said Trump was entitled to immunity from prosecution.

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The updated criminal case no longer lists as a co-conspirator Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department official who championed Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Trump’s co-conspirators were not named in either indictment, but they have been identified through public records and other means.

Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke after former President Donald Trump was indicted in an investigation into efforts to interfere with the 2020 election.

The special counsel's office said the updated indictment, filed in federal court in Washington, was issued by a grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in the case.

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

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