After immunity decision, authorities again bring election fraud charges against Trump

Federal prosecutors led by special counsel Jack Smith have filed a new indictment, dismissed by a grand jury on Tuesday, against former President Donald Trump, alleging his attempts to manipulate the outcome of the 2020 election.

The indictment still contains the same four counts of criminal conspiracy and is only a few pages shorter than the original indictment filed in 2023. However, the complaint has been amended to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court's July 1 ruling on presidential immunity, which held that a president is entitled to at least presumptive immunity for his official acts.

Both parties will use the new charges in their further actions.

In a statement filed with the court on Tuesday, it said the indictment reflected “the government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s rulings and instructions to remand the indictment in Trump against the United States.”

The core allegations against Trump remain in the new lawsuit — the faulty election system, spreading lies about election fraud and trying to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to block the certification. A legal journalist noted on X that a co-conspirator was removed from the new version.

“Despite his defeat, (Trump) was determined to remain in power. That is why, more than two months after Election Day on November 3, 2020, (Trump) spread lies that the election had been subject to decisive voter fraud and that he had actually won,” the complaint states.

According to CNN, the new indictment further distinguishes Trump's actions as president from his actions as a presidential candidate. “The defendant had no official duties related to the certification process, but as a candidate he had a personal interest in being declared the winner of the election,” the indictment states.

Trump's lies led a mob of his supporters to violently storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, to disrupt the certification process. He still faces four charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction and attempted obstruction of an official proceeding; and conspiracy to violate the right to vote and the counting of one's own vote. A status report from both parties is expected on Friday.

Since the Supreme Court ruling, Trump's team has been trying to drop charges against him in New York after a jury convicted him in May. Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of crimes related to a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential campaign. His lawyers asked a judge in July to overturn his conviction in light of the court's decision.

Read the new indictment here.

Further information on the case of election manipulation at the federal level can be found here.