As part of an ongoing campaign of lawfare, Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment on Tuesday against former President Donald Trump alleging, in part, that Trump’s First Amendment right to question the outcome of an election created “mistrust and anger” and eroded “public faith in the administration of the election.”
“Each of these conspiracies — which built on the widespread mistrust the Defendant was creating through pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud — targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election,” the indictment alleges.
Smith alleges Trump “erode[d] public faith in the administration of the election” despite the fact that Smith’s own Justice Department has vowed to undermine secure elections, sued Arizona for trying to require people prove they are citizens to register to vote, and used a federal statute to charge hundreds of protesters that the Supreme Court later ruled was used in an over-broad capacity.
The superseding indictment comes weeks after the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling in June finding that presidents have “absolute immunity” for “actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority” and “at least presumptive immunity” for all “official acts.” The court remanded several questions relating to Smith’s initial indictment against Trump back to the lower court to determine whether they constitute an official act.
The new indictment is nine pages shorter than Smith’s original, 45-page indictment that had the same charges. The indictment changes
