Donald Trump hit with new indictment in 2020 election subversion case

Indictment keeps same criminal charges but narrows allegations after Supreme Court opinion gave broad immunity to former presidents

Former president Donald Trump appears during a campaign event in Detroit, Michigan, on August 26. Getty Images / AFP

Special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday filed a new indictment against Donald Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election.

The indictment keeps the same criminal charges but narrows the allegations against him after a Supreme Court opinion gave broad immunity to former presidents.

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

It also does not include certain allegations related to Mr Trump’s communications with government officials.

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 kept the allegations that Mr Trump tried 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 Mr Trump and Mr Pence amounted to official conduct for which “Trump is at least presumptively immune from prosecution”.

The question, Mr Roberts wrote, is whether the government can rebut “that presumption of immunity”.

A divided Supreme Court ruled in early July that Mr Trump can claim presidential immunity to avoid prosecution for many of his actions in seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Split along partisan lines, the conservative-dominated court found that Mr Trump cannot be prosecuted for official acts as president, but can for private acts.

One liberal judge said the ruling effectively ensured that a president “is now a king above the law”.

In late July, President Joe Biden proposed far-reaching judicial reforms that would include ensuring Mr Trump can face trial.

Mr Biden called for an amendment to the US Constitution that “makes clear no president is above the law”.

“If a future president incites a violent mob to storm the Capitol and stop the peaceful transfer of power – like we saw on January 6, 2021 – there may be no legal consequences,” he wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Post.

Mr Trump has faced several legal challenges since he left office, including a New York criminal case that led to his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records.