Former president Donald Trump said the Justice Department was engaging in “election interference” after news broke that special counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment against him.
Smith’s indictment accuses Trump of two felony counts of obstructing an official proceeding, and one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, and one felony count of conspiracy against rights.
Trump said that the revised indictment amounted to “election interference” in a post on X:
“It is DOJ policy that the Department of Justice should not take any action that will influence an election within 60 days of that election – but they just have taken such action,” he said.
“Voting starts on September 6th, therefore the DOJ has violated its own policy – Election Interference. All of these Comrade Kamala/Biden Hoaxes should be immediately DISMISSED!”
It is DOJ policy that the Department of Justice should not take any action that will influence an election within 60 days of that election – but they just have taken such action. Voting starts on September 6th, therefore the DOJ has violated its own policy – Election…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2024
In another post on Truth Social, Trump said that the revised indictment was “a direct assault on democracy.”
“This is an unprecedented abuse of the Criminal Justice System. The case has to do with ‘Conspiracy to Obstruct the 2020 Presidential Election,’ when they are the ones that did the obstructing of the Election, not me,” he said.
“They cheated on the Election, and they go after me for ‘cheating on the Election.'”
“Interestingly, this comes at the exact same time as Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook has admitted to concealing massive amounts of information, such as Hunter Biden‘s Laptop from Hell, which is a direct acknowledgment that the 2020 Presidential Election was MANIPULATED and RIGGED by the DOJ. What they are doing now is the single greatest sabotage of our Democracy in History.”
Smith’s office said that the indictment had been revised due to the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States, which said that presidents cannot be prosecuted for exercising core constitutional powers, and are entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for official acts.
“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,” the special counsel’s office claimed.
Responding to the revised indictment, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said the Biden-Harris administration was weaponizing the DOJ.
“Donald Trump continues to be the most persecuted politician in the history of our country. Today, after getting two of his cases thrown out by the courts, Jack Smith is grasping at straws once again,” he said.
“Just 70 days before the election, Smith has brought yet another bogus indictment. Americans are sick of this corruption and shameless lawfare.”
“They know this is not about justice, but about politics.”
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