Donald Trump faces NEW indictment for January 6 riots as prosecutors try to keep case alive by dropping one of the allegations

Donald Trump has been handed a fresh blow to his January 6 court case as US prosecutors have filed a new indictment against him.

Special counsel Jack Smith submitted a fresh indictment – described as “slimmed-down” in American media – against the former President on Tuesday evening.

It looks to prosecute Trump on a narrower election subversion charge to comply with the US Supreme Court judgment which ruled Presidents have “broad immunity from criminal prosecution”.

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Smith has ditched the allegations that Trump sought to pressure the US Justice Department into overturning the result of the 2020 election – in what looks to be an effort to keep the case alive after Trump was ruled ineligible to be prosecuted for his conduct.

But the revised indictment still brings forward the four charges against the Republican former president as last year – focusing on Trump’s role as a political candidate seeking reelection, rather than as the President at the time.

Smith’s indictment still accuses Trump of “spreading lies that there had been… fraud in the election and that he had actually won”.

It also claims the then-President used “knowingly false claims of election fraud” to “overturn the legitimate results” of the election and “deceived” his supporters – who proceeded to descend on the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 in a day of chaos and unrest.

It reads: “A large and angry crowd – including many individuals whom the Defendant [Trump] had deceived into believing the Vice President could and might change the election results – violently attacked the Capitol and halted the proceeding.

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“As violence ensued, the Defendant and co-conspirators exploited the disruption by redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud and convince Members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims.”

The case was presented to a new grand jury which had not heard evidence from the original case, a Justice Department spokesman said.

More to follow…