Donald Trump later pleads not guilty replaces the indictment Last week’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, the former president said in a court filing on Tuesday.
He also waived his right to attend the court hearing where he will be charged with the same four counts from last year. original indictment.
“I, President Donald J. Trump … hereby waive my right to be present at trial and authorize my attorneys to plead not guilty on my behalf to each count of the superseding indictment,” he said. the giving.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s office said in court filings last week that it would not oppose Trump’s recusal on charges identical to those to which he has pleaded not guilty. last August: Conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings; obstructing and attempting to obstruct official proceedings; and conspiracy against rights.
The presiding judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, said in a ruling Tuesday that she accepted Trump’s waiver and that the trial would be held Thursday during a previously scheduled status conference in the case.
Smith requested a revised indictment from the new grand jury after the trial The Supreme Court issued a decision about presidential immunity It barred federal prosecutors from using certain “official actions” Trump took in his role as president in their case against him.
The new indictment excludes previous evidence that could be construed as related to official acts, including Trump’s false claims of election fraud and alleged conversations with Justice Department officials and White House advisers about ways to overturn the 2020 results.
Much of the superseding indictment is identical to the original, with prosecutors alleging that Trump did not believe the lies he told after his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden and knew they were untrue.
“These allegations were unsupported, objectively unsubstantiated, and constantly changing, and Defendant and his co-conspirators repeated them even after they had been publicly denied,” the new indictment states. “These allegations were false and the defendant knew they were false.”
Smith’s office said in a statement last week that the revised indictment “reflects the Government’s efforts to respect and enforce Supreme Court orders and detention orders.”
Trump blasted the indictment on social media shortly after it was filed, calling it a “direct attack on democracy.”
“The case is related to the “conspiracy to obstruct the 2020 presidential elections”, while it is they, not me, who obstructed the election.” he wrote.