Donald Trump hit with fresh indictment in 2020 election interference case

Aug 28, 2024

A new indictment has been filed against Donald Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election following his defeat to Joe Biden.

The new document removes a section that had accused Mr Trump of trying to use the law enforcement powers of the Justice Department to overturn his election loss.

This was an area of conduct for which the Supreme Court ruled that he was absolutely immune from prosecution.

Last month’s ruling said former presidents are presumptively immune from prosecution for official White House acts.

The new indictment was filed three days ahead of a deadline for special counsel Jack Smith’s office to tell the judge in the case how they wanted to proceed in light of that opinion.

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 original indictment included allegations that Mr Trump tried to enlist the Justice Department in his failed effort to undo his election loss.

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This included by conducting sham investigations and telling states – incorrectly – that significant fraud had been detected.

It detailed how Jeffrey Clark, a top official in the Trump Justice Department, sought to send a letter to elected officials in certain states falsely claiming that the department had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election” and had asked top department officials to sign it, but they refused.

Mr Clark’s support for Trump’s election fraud claims led the then president to openly contemplate naming him as acting attorney general in place of Jeffrey Rosen.

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Mr Trump ultimately relented in his plan to replace Mr Rosen with Mr Clark “when he was told it would result in mass resignations at the Justice Department”, according to the original indictment.

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