By Brett Rowland (The Center Square)
A Washington D.C. grand jury returned a superseding indictment Tuesday against former President Donald Trump, essentially re-alleging that he conspired to undermine the 2020 election.
Prosecutors took the case back to a grand jury after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July that presidents and former presidents of the United States have “absolute immunity” when acting on core constitutional duties and “presumptive immunity” on other matters.
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“President’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute,” the high court ruling said. “As for his remaining official actions, he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity.”
The 6-3 ruling found that the president has no immunity for unofficial conduct.
Prosecutors said the superseding indictment addresses those issues.
“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 and remand instructions in Trump v. United States,” Special counsel Jack Smith’s team wrote in court filings.
The superseding indictment contains the same four charges from the earlier indictment.
The Justice Department said it would discuss Trump’s lawyers how to proceed in the case, according to court records.
Trump has denied all the charges and said the case is an example of political persecution by the Democrats.
It would be unlikely that the matter could proceed to trial before the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Trump lashed out at the latest indictment on Truth Social.
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“No Presidential Candidate, or Candidate for any Office, has ever had to put up with all of this Lawfare and Weaponization directly out of the Office of a Political Opponent,” Trump wrote Tuesday afternoon. “They’ve Weaponized local D.A.s and Attorney Generals, and anybody else that will listen, to Interfere with the upcoming 2024 Presidential Election – Never been done before. This is now Kamala’s Weaponized System against her Political Opponent. All of these Scams will fail, just as Deranged Jack’s Hoax in Florida has been fully dismissed, and we will win the Most Important Election in the History of our Country on November 5th.”
As in the past, Trump put the blame on his political opponents.
“….This travesty is now on Comrade Kamala Harris, who is actively pushing it, rather than immediately calling for its dismissal, as should be done. This is for Third World Countries and Banana Republics, not for the U.S.A.! As Jack Smith knows, the whole case should be thrown out and dismissed on Presidential Immunity grounds, as already ruled unequivocally by the U.S. Supreme Court,” Trump wrote in another post. “Smith rewrote the exact same case in an effort to circumvent the Supreme Court Decision. The people of our Country will see what is happening with all of these corrupt lawsuits against me, and will REJECT them by giving me an overwhelming Victory on November 5th for President of the United States….”
Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.
