Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio on Tuesday slammed special counsel Jack Smith's indictment against former President Trump as “an attempt to influence the election.”
Vance He told reporters While he had not read the document in full, he said: “Jack Smith appears to be going further than he always has been in his tactics of filing lawsuits to try to influence elections.”
“The reason the Supreme Court dismissed his case is because they found it involved the president's official acts, and of course the president has immunity in engaging in those official acts,” he added.
Smith on Tuesday filed an updated indictment in the election interference case against President Trump, which retained the same charges but removed some elements of the case following the Supreme Court's exoneration decision.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that the president has absolute immunity for acts that are within the core responsibilities of his office, and “at least has presumptive immunity” for all other acts of official conduct.
The ruling sent the case back to a lower court to reconsider whether President Trump's actions on January 6, 2021, merited special protection from criminal prosecution. Smith presented the case to a second grand jury that had not previously heard the matter. The grand jury also concluded that charges against the president were legitimate.
Vance noted that the indictment reframes the alleged pressure campaign against then-Vice President Pence.
“But Jack Smith has sought to redefine Mike Pence from vice president to vice presidential nominee, as if changing the language in the indictment would undermine the fact that Mike Pence is still vice president and directly implicate him in the official conduct of the president,” Vance told reporters.
The indictment states, “The defendant [Trump] They unsuccessfully sought to involve the Vice President, who was Defendants' running mate and who, by constitutional standards, was President of the Senate, a ceremonial role in the January 6 certification process.”
“Although Defendant had no official responsibility with respect to the certification process, as a candidate he had a personal interest in being named the winner of the election,” the indictment states. “All of the conversations between Defendant and the Vice President described below were focused on Defendant maintaining power.”
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will decide whether Trump's attempt to get Pence to certify the replenished electoral rolls stands up to the Supreme Court's new standards, but the issue could also be appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Ohio Republican said he doesn't believe anything has “changed” legally, but reiterated his belief that this is “clearly an attempt to further interfere in our elections.”
“he [Jack Smith] “He should be ashamed and that's one of the reasons why we have to win, because he should be closer to power,” he said.
The Hill has reached out to the Department of Justice for further comment.
