WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith Tuesday announced that a grand jury had reindicted former President Donald Trump on four charges related to his Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt to honor the direction given by the U.S. Supreme Court in its July ruling holding that Trump was immune from criminal prosecution for “official acts.”
“Today, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a superseding indictment,” Smith wrote in a separate filing to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is handling the case. “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.”
Trump’s first public reaction to the new indictment was to repost a message on Truth Social by Mike Davis, a former Senate lawyer who supports him, that ends with: “Bottom Line: There’s no chance this case goes to trial before the election. Trump wins. Jack Smith fired. Case closed.”
About an hour later, Trump personally responded with a five-post screed on his social media platform in which he called Smith “deranged” and claimed, without any evidence, that the prosecution was being directed by President Joe Biden’s White House. He also repeated his lie that Democrats had cheated to win the 2020 election.
He ended with: “PERSECUTION OF A POLITICAL OPPONENT!”
The “superseding” indictment, as it is known, charges Trump with the same four counts as in the original indictment that was filed a year ago: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing an official proceeding and conspiracy to deprive millions of Americans of their right to have their votes counted.
It follows the same narrative structure, laying out how Trump spent months after losing his 2020 reelection bid laying the groundwork for the violent assault on the Capitol by his mob of followers.
“Despite having lost, the defendant ― who was also the incumbent president ― was determined to remain in power,” Smith wrote. “So, for more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election [that] he had actually won. These claims were false, and the defendant knew that they were false.”
But Smith’s new indictment does not reference Trump’s efforts to enlist federal government employees in the executive branch — who all technically report to him. For instance, the original indictment had mentioned a Department of Justice official whom Trump considered making his attorney general because of his willingness to tell state officials that voter fraud had occurred. The new indictment does not include the official as a co-conspirator, but does still include the other five individuals who were not in government.
The Supreme Court ruled in July that Trump had immunity from prosecution for “official” acts, and specifically cited the ability to hire and fire executive branch employees to carry out his wishes.
The revised indictment, now at 36 pages compared to the 45-page original, still centers on Trump’s scheme to have allies in key states won by Biden create fake Electoral College slates and send them to the Senate. The plan was for then-Vice President Mike Pence to use the fake Trump slates instead of the legitimate slates for Democrat Joe Biden and declare Trump the winner.
Pence, though, refused to go along with the plan and incurred Trump’s wrath by announcing that decision publicly as Congress convened for the ceremonial certification of the presidential election.
Trump attacked Pence on Twitter, telling his followers that Pence lacked “the courage” to do as he had demanded. His mob at that point surged the Capitol entrances. Many chanted “Hang Mike Pence” as they hunted for him.
Despite entreaties from White House staff and his own family, Trump refused to tell his people to leave the building for three hours.
More than 140 police officers were wounded, some badly, by Trump’s mob. One died hours later, and another four died by suicide in the following months. Four of Trump’s own followers also died in the melee.
All four of the charges in the indictment are felonies, and Trump would face decades in prison if convicted. He is already facing as long as four years in prison on an unrelated conviction in New York City, with sentencing set for next month.
Trump is also under a felony indictment in Georgia state court for his actions to overturn his election loss there, while prosecutors are appealing a Trump-appointed federal judge’s ruling to dismiss felony charges based on his refusal to turn over secret documents he took with him to his Florida country club upon leaving office.
Trump denies any wrongdoing for any of the charged crimes and continues lying about his election loss, claiming the election was “rigged” and “stolen” from him.