Sen. J.D. Vance slammed the new superseding indictment of former President Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, dismissing the latest filing by special counsel Jack Smith as election interference.
“I haven’t read the whole thing, but it looks like Jack Smith is doing more of what he does, which is filing these absurd lawsuits in an effort to influence the election,” Mr. Vance, Mr. Trump’s GOP running mate, told reporters Tuesday.
“The reason the Supreme Court threw out his lawsuit is because they said it implicated the president’s official acts — of course, which the president has immunity in conducting those official acts,” he said.
The Ohio senator said Mr. Smith should “be ashamed of himself” and should “not be anywhere near power.”
Mr. Smith filed the indictment Tuesday against Mr. Trump over his efforts to overturn what he called a rigged 2020 presidential election. It narrows the allegations against the former president since the Supreme Court ruled last month that presidents have absolute immunity when it comes to actions within the core responsibilities of being president.
The new indictment takes out a section of the previous indictment that accused Mr. Trump of trying to use certain powers of the Justice Department to battle the election result.
Mr. Smith’s office said the new indictment was issued by a grand jury and “reflects the government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings and remand instructions.”
The Supreme Court had sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington to determine which actions taken by the former president fall under the high court’s official acts immunity ruling.
On Truth Social, Mr. Trump called the new indictment “an act of desperation” and an “effort to resurrect a ’dead’ Witch Hunt.’” He said the new case has “all the problems of the old Indictment, and should be dismissed IMMEDIATELY. “
Mr. Vance joined other Republicans in calling the case election interference.
“The blatant political persecution of President Trump and state-sanctioned election interference by the Biden-Harris administration continues,” Rep. Jodey Arrington said in a statement Tuesday.
“The repeated lawfare and weaponization of the Justice Department by Biden-Harris has eroded public trust and set a dangerous precedent for our Republic,” the Texas Republican said. “Fortunately, the American people — not rogue prosecutors — will have the last say in this matter.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson blasted the case, calling Mr. Trump “the most persecuted politician in the history of our country.”
He said Mr. Smith is “grasping at straws once again” and President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have “set a dangerous, destructive precedent by weaponizing the Department of Justice and using it to prosecute their political opponents.”
“Just 70 days before the election, Smith has brought yet another bogus indictment,” Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, wrote on X. “Americans are sick of this corruption and shameless lawfare. They know this is not about justice, but about politics.”
Mr. Trump became the first president to become a convicted felon in May after being found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He is due to be sentenced next month.
In a third criminal case out of Georgia, Mr. Trump was indicted for his efforts of trying to overturn the Georgia 2020 election results. A fourth case, involving classified documents in Florida, was thrown out by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon last month, but Mr. Smith has urged a federal appeals court to revive it.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.