Ap

The newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, August 28, 2024, p. 30

Washington. Special prosecutor Jack Smith filed a new indictment yesterday against Donald Trump for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which maintains the same criminal charges but narrows the accusations against him after the Supreme Court granted broad immunity to former US presidents.

The new indictment strikes a section of the indictment that addressed Trump’s interactions with the Justice Department, conduct for which Trump enjoys absolute immunity under the Supreme Court’s ruling last month.

The updated criminal case no longer includes as a co-defendant Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department official who defended Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Trump’s co-defendants were not named in any of the indictments but have been identified through public records and other means.

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

The indictment maintains allegations that Trump tried to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to ratify the vote count. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said the interactions between Trump and Pence were official conduct for which the former president should enjoy immunity from prosecution.

The question, Roberts wrote, is whether the government can refute that presumption of immunity.