Special counsel Jack Smith obtains a new grand jury indictment against Trump

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

The Justice Department has obtained a new grand jury indictment in the federal election interference case against Donald Trump. The move comes weeks after the Supreme Court gave the former president substantial immunity from prosecution. NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson has been following this case, along with many others, and she is here to tell us more about it. Hi, Carrie.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Hi, Ailsa.

CHANG: OK. Why are we seeing a new indictment against Donald Trump today?

JOHNSON: The criminal charges in this D.C.-based case are the same – conspiracy to defraud the United States, to deprive millions of 2020 voters of their rights, obstruction of an official proceeding. But some of the specific allegations are different, and that’s because of the landmark Supreme Court decision last month that gave Trump and future presidents a lot of leeway to use their official powers.

CHANG: Right.

JOHNSON: Special counsel Jack Smith said in court papers today that this latest action was an effort to respect and implement those Supreme Court holdings.

CHANG: Interesting. OK. This indictment came out only a short while ago. What have you found so far that is new?

JOHNSON: The single biggest change is that allegations about Donald Trump misusing the Justice Department to try to promote bogus claims of election fraud are now gone, totally vanished. And so is the Trump official who allegedly tried to carry out those efforts inside the DOJ. That’s a lawyer named Jeffrey Clark. He had been listed as coconspirator No. 4 in the case, but now all the coconspirators are people who did not work in the Trump administration at the time and people who were acting in a private capacity. That’s important because the ruling by the conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court specifically gave a president a lot of power over the Justice Department.

In another change, these new charges also specify when prosecutors think Donald Trump was acting as a candidate, a person seeking political office and not as the sitting president. That also would be in line with how the Supreme Court ruled in the immunity case. Lots of protection for the core acts of a president, but not for candidates or people who are seeking personal benefit.

CHANG: OK, I see. I understand that Trump has already pleaded not guilty to these charges, so what are you watching for next?

JOHNSON: You know, normally there’s an arraignment on these kinds of new charges. Prosecutors say they will not demand Donald Trump show up in person for that. DOJ and Trump’s lawyers already had a deadline of Friday to update the trial judge about next steps in this case. We may get more detail by the end of the week.

And really, there’s no chance Trump would have faced trial before the election. If he wins in November, he could order the DOJ to dismiss the case. If he loses at the ballot box, all this legal wrangling could get even more intense. Some former prosecutors anticipated the new charges would come and add new defendants. That hasn’t happened yet, but it could next year.

CHANG: That is NPR’s Carrie Johnson. Thank you so much, Carrie.

JOHNSON: My pleasure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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