Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump leaves after speaking at a rally at 1st Summit Arena at the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on 30 August 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)
- Donald Trump is set to plead not guilty to a revised
indictment accusing him of attempting to overturn the 2020 US presidential
election results. - The superseding indictment acknowledges a significant
Supreme Court ruling giving an ex-president broad immunity from criminal
prosecution. - With legal defences invoking presidential immunity and
seeking trial delays, Trump faces multiple legal battles.
Donald Trump is to plead not guilty to the charges in a
revised indictment accusing him of seeking to overturn the results of the 2020
US presidential election, according to a court filing on Tuesday.
Trump, in a filing with the US District Court in Washington,
waived his right to be present at his arraignment on the charges and instructed
his attorneys to plead not guilty.
Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a new indictment of the
Republican White House candidate last week on the charges that he tried to
subvert the results of the election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
The superseding indictment retains the same four charges
against Trump as in an earlier version but takes into account a recent Supreme
Court ruling that a former president has broad immunity from criminal
prosecution.
District Judge Tanya Chutkan granted Trump’s request not to
appear in person at the arraignment and said it will be held at the same time
as a status conference in the case on Thursday.
The new indictment of the 78-year-old Trump removes material
affected by the presidential immunity ruling from the conservative-dominated
top court.
It retains the same core, stating that Trump lost in 2020
but “was determined to remain in power” and attempted to subvert the
results.
The Supreme Court ruled in July that an ex-president has
broad immunity from prosecution for official acts conducted while in office,
but can be pursued for unofficial acts.
Trump’s lawyers have been seeking to delay a trial until
after November’s election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the
Democratic presidential candidate.
Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States
and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding – the 6 January 2021, joint
session of Congress that was attacked by Trump supporters.
READ | Biden says Netanyahu not doing enough to secure hostage deal
Trump is also accused of seeking to disenfranchise US voters
with his campaign of false claims that he won the 2020 election.
He was originally scheduled to go on trial on 4 March, but
that was put on hold while his lawyers pushed his claim of presidential
immunity all the way up to the Supreme Court.
Trump was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of
falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments made to porn star
Stormy Daniels.
Sentencing has been scheduled for 18 September.
Trump also faces charges in Georgia related to efforts to
overturn the 2020 election.
#Donald #Trump #pleading #guilty #revised #election #charges
