Jack Smith Files New Trump Indictment in Sign Battle Isn’t Over Yet

Special counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment Tuesday in the election interference case against Donald Trump, which prosecutors claim respects the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.

While the 36-page indictment doesn’t drop any of the four original charges against Trump, it does remove some of the specific allegations and emphasize how Trump’s actions fell outside of the bounds of “official conduct,” following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. United States, which found that the president could not be tried for most “official conduct.”

In the high court’s majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts had specifically mentioned the indictment’s allegation of “several conversations in which Trump pressured the Vice President to reject States’ legitimate electoral votes or send them back to state legislatures for review,” ruling that “whenever the President and Vice President discuss their official responsibilities, they engage in official conduct.”

The decision dealt a heavy blow to Smith’s case, which relied on such conversations to argue that Trump had unlawfully attempted to interfere with the 2020 presidential election.

In a government’s notice, prosecutors wrote that the new indictment “reflects the Government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings and remand instructions in Trump v. United States.”

Evidence for the indictment had been “presented to a new grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in this case,” and that jury had separately charged Trump with the same crimes, according to Smith’s team.

In removing some of the evidence from the original indictment, Smith may be attempting to spare himself a lengthy evidentiary hearing, hoping to expedite the process.

Tuesday’s indictment, like the original, alleges that Trump “pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results” following the 2020 presidential election, by engaging in three separate conspiracies: a conspiracy to defraud the government, a conspiracy to obstruct and impede the counting of votes on January 6, and a conspiracy against the right to vote and have one’s vote counted.

The filing comes just before a deadline set by the Justice Department, which would forestall the filing of charges against the former president within 60 days of the upcoming presidential election.

The indictment sparked a major meltdown from Trump, who promptly published a 500-word diatribe across four lengthy posts on Truth Social.

“This travesty is now on Comrade Kamala Harris, who is actively pushing it, rather than immediately calling for its dismissal, as should be done,” Trump wrote in one post.

“For them to do this immediately after our Supreme Court Victory on Immunity and more, is shocking,” Trump wrote in another post. “I’ve also been informed by my attorneys, that you’re not even allowed to bring cases literally right before an Election—A direct assault on Democracy!”

This story has been updated.

Donald Trump has added two ex-presidential candidates to his transition team: former Representative Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The move comes after the two endorsed the former president and convicted felon’s 2024 campaign for president. Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, initially endorsed Trump in July and joined him on Monday at a National Guard Association event in Detroit. Kennedy suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump last week.

As members of Trump’s team, the two will help the Republican nominee craft policy and choose staff members for his administration should he win in November. Both Gabbard and Kennedy have reputations as conspiracy theorists.

Gabbard has expressed skepticism about the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons during its civil war, putting her at odds with the U.S. government view, and even had two secret meetings with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. She has also defended Russia in its war against Ukraine, and tried to claim that press freedom in Russia is similar to the United States. Since leaving Congress, Gabbard has shifted heavily to the right, promoting transphobia, spreading Russian propaganda, and unsuccessfully endorsing Republicans. Trump even brought her aboard to help with debate preparations.

Kennedy meanwhile, is best known for anti-vaccine and public health skepticism. His quixotic presidential campaign revealed more bizarre stances, such as a pledge to not “take sides” on the 9/11 attacks. In the weeks leading up to his withdrawal from the presidential race, Kennedy was revealed to have once had a worm in his brain, and to have dumped a bear cub carcass in New York’s Central Park. In another resurfaced interview from 2012, his daughter Kick recounted an instance when Kennedy cut off a beached whale’s head with a chainsaw in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, tied it to the roof of his car, and proceeded to drive it and his family five hours home to New York.

Having Kennedy and Gabbard on his transition team doesn’t bode well for what a future Trump administration would look like. Right-wing foot soldiers are already devising plans of what they want to do, and these two ex–presidential candidates will likely revive the old Trump days of amplifying crackpot theories.

Donald Trump is leaning into his grifty crypto guy image with his latest announcement.

On Tuesday, Trump posted a video on Truth Social announcing he would be releasing another round of his “baseball card” NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. “By popular demand, I’m doing a new series of Trump digital trading cards,” Trump said. “You all know what they are, we’ve had a lot of fun with them.”

The trading cards include photos of a much younger and leaner Trump raising his hands in victory or dressed as a superhero. Written in small font below the link to purchase reads an explanation of the product: “Trump Digital Trading Cards (NFTs) are intended as collectible items for individual enjoyment only, not for investment vehicles.”

“These cards show me dancing and even holding some Bitcoins,” Trump explains in the video, while making it clear he might not know what exactly he’s selling. This will be the former president’s fourth NFT collection drop since December 2022, and a previous collection included his “Mugshot Edition NFTs.”

Like a late-night commercial, Trump also shills deals for the buyers which include a promise of a physical card if you purchase 15 NFTs, autographed cards, and a chance to win dinner with the former president in Jupiter, Florida (if you purchase 75 NFTs). Each card costs $99 apiece.

“You know they call me the crypto president,” Trump explained. “I don’t know if that’s true or not but a lot of people are saying that.”

Earlier this week Trump, who once called crypto a scam, teased a cryptocurrency platform. Recent election disclosures show that he previously made over $7 million through the NFT licensing deal.

Donald Trump seemed immensely pleased Tuesday after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote to Congress claiming that the Biden administration had pressured him to censor disinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Zuckerberg wrote that the Biden administration had “repeatedly pressured” Meta to remove “certain Covid-19 content, including humor and satire.”

“I believe that the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote. While Meta’s platform Facebook has been all but taken over by outlandish A.I. content and fake news, Zuckerberg lamented that he had not allowed misinformation endangering public health to run rampant, as well.

“I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction,” he said. “And we are ready to push back if something like this happens again.”

Zuckerberg also wrote that he regretted temporarily “demoting” the 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop while waiting for fact-checkers to assess the validity of the story. He said the FBI had previously warned Meta about a potential Russian disinformation campaign against the Biden family involving Burisma, a Ukrainian oil company for which Hunter Biden worked.

“It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation and we should not have demoted the story,” Zuckerberg wrote. He noted that Meta had changed its protocols and would no longer demote content in the U.S. while waiting for it to be fact-checked—touting how easy he had made it for disinformation to propagate on his sites.

Zuckerberg also tried to distance himself from the $350 million in grants he and his wife had provided for election administrators struggling to adapt to pandemic-era election restrictions in 2020.

“I know that some believe this work benefited one party over the other,” Zuckerberg wrote, even though the FEC had ruled that it did not. “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another—or even appear to be playing a role. So I don’t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle.”

For someone whose stated goal is to be neutral, Zuckerberg’s letter sure made Trump happy.

“This is what everyone’s been waiting for—THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS RIGGED!” Trump wrote in a jubilant post on Truth Social. Beneath his post, he reshared a post from his lawyer, Alina Habba, who claimed the Biden administration was “gagging our media and censoring America.”

In another post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Zuckerberg admits that the White House pushed to SUPPRESS HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY (& much more!). IN OTHER WORDS, THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS RIGGED.”

Crucially, Zuckerberg did not claim that the Biden administration had forced him to remove, or even demote the story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Donald Trump’s fans are trying to push the lamest conspiracy yet on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz: They’re now accusing him of faking his dog Scout’s identity.

Right-wing columnist Dustin Grage fueled the controversy with a post on X Monday morning screenshotting two 2022 posts from Walz where he mentions Scout, claiming that Walz referred to two different dogs as Scout.

Several MAGA figures immediately jumped on the manufactured controversy. Podcast Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr., accused Walz of lying.

Senator Eric Schmitt tried to turn Democrats’ “weird” attack line on Republicans against Walz.

But, Grage was soon corrected by X’s Community Notes, which pointed out that the other dog was playing with Scout, and cited the obvious conclusion that “it’s normal to encounter and interact with dogs besides your own at the dog park.” Others on X were quick to mock the lame right-wing attack.

Ever since Walz was named as Kamala Harris’s running mate, the right has struggled to come up with any effective attacks against the Minnesota governor, whether melting down over his son at the Democratic National Convention, calling him “Tampon Tim,” or even attacking his military record. In many cases, right-wing figures have come after Walz only to have their own embarrassments thrown back at them, as was the case with Kristi Noem and the pet dog she shot and killed. As the election nears, they’re simply getting more and more desperate.

J.D. Vance may have gotten himself and some local allies in hot water over a so-called press conference he held outside of the police station in Shelby Township, Michigan.

Earlier this month, Vance looked out over the station’s mostly empty parking lot as he hostilely answered—or refused to answer—questions from the press. The event was billed as remarks, rather than a rally, and he used his time on the podium to push his ironic “stolen valor” attacks against Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz. During the speech, Vance was flanked by police officers and officials showing their support for the candidate.

Last week, the Detroit Metro Times questioned the legality of such an event, alleging that the police department may have broken the Michigan Campaign Finance Act, which forbids the use of public resources to support a political candidate. Any violators could be jailed for 93 days.

Within two days, Shelby Township resident Melissa Arab filed a formal complaint.

“I feel like we can get the attention on it, and if they can spank these police departments right now or put someone in jail for 93 days, it will stop in the rest of the state and country,” Arab told the Metro Times. “You can’t have him doing this across the country.”

Arab explained that she was unnerved by the display at her local police department, and the possible misuse of taxpayer dollars.

“It’s very intimidating to see the police officers lined up behind Trump and Vance,” Arab said. “It’s very scary.”

The Michigan Bureau of Elections has agreed to investigate Arab’s complaint.

Meanwhile, a Donald Trump event held about 45 miles west of Shelby Township, in Howell, Michigan, has run into similar trouble. Trump delivered a low-energy speech from the Livingston County Sheriff’s office’s shiny white garage, standing in front of officers and police SUVs, flanked by large signs that said “Michigan is Trump Country.” The Michigan Bureau of Elections is now reviewing two complaints against the sheriff’s office for allegedly violating state campaign finance law.

In an interview in Tucker Carlson’s fake-log cabin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he’s not simply endorsing Donald Trump, he is a part of the Trump team.

Kennedy announced on Monday that he is officially “working with the campaign,” not only to get Trump elected. “We are working on policy issues together.”

“I’ve been asked to go on to the transition team,” Kennedy added, “to help pick the people who will be running the government” in a potential second Trump term.

As Kennedy announced Friday that he will formally suspend his campaign (but will, confusingly, still appear on the ballot in “non-battleground states”), he appeared to be vying for the position of health secretary on Trump’s team. He even went so far as to coin his own Trumpian phrase, “Make America Healthy Again.”

Trump has already appointed donors Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick as co-chairs of his transition team, as well as his adult sons as honorary chairs. Trump on Monday confirmed the news of RFK Jr.’s appointment to his transition team, alongside another notorious conspiracy theorist, Tulsi Gabbard. The news could be seen as a snub to Project 2025 and other Trump loyalists, who have worked tirelessly to prepare for Trump’s first year in office, especially given Kennedy’s previous comments about the former president.

This story has been updated.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s crusade against supposed voter fraud appears to be targeting the state’s Democrats.

Last week, Paxton’s office announced raids and undercover actions against organizations in Texas it accuses of illegally registering noncitizens to vote. In practice, though, the raids have taken place against members of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest Latino civil rights organization in the U.S., as well as several prominent Democrats in south Texas. 

According to LULAC officials, the group’s members had their cell phones and laptops confiscated by law enforcement officials carrying out search warrants.

“Attorney General Paxton is using his position of authority to harass and intimidate Latino non-profit organizations like LULAC, Latino Leaders and LULAC members,” Juan Proaño, LULAC’s CEO, told CBS News. “It is evident through his pattern of lawsuits, raids, searches, and seizures that he is trying to keep Latinos from voting.”

One of the activists targeted was 87-year-old Lidia Martinez of San Antonio, a LULAC member for more that 35 years who works to expand voter registration for seniors and veterans. Last Tuesday, she said nine officers in tactical gear knocked on her door, presented a warrant, and questioned her for more than three hours. They took her phone, calendar, computer, blank voter registration forms, and her certificate to conduct voter registration.

“This is a free country, this is not Russia,” Martinez said in a press conference denouncing the raid.

Paxton does not appear to have been dissuaded by the backlash to his office’s raids, claiming that there was “sufficient evidence to obtain the search warrants” based on the results of a two-year investigation.

“My office is investigating every credible report we receive regarding potential criminal activity that could compromise the integrity of our elections,” Paxton said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris Administration has intentionally flooded our country with illegal aliens, and without proper safeguards, foreign nationals can illegally influence elections at the local, state, and national level.”

The allegations would carry more weight, except for the fact that Republicans and conservatives have been repeating the claim of noncitizens illegally voting ad nauseam, with little, if any proof. Last week, Fox News presenter Maria Bartiromo repeated an allegation of “massive lines of illegals” for nearly a week on national television, with only a “friend of mine’s wife” as her source. House Speaker Mike Johnson has pledged to take on the nonexistent problem by sponsoring the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, even though the information he’s citing is bogus. Elon Musk has also been taken in by right-wing propaganda on the issue, urging new laws to be passed to tackle something that’s already illegal.

Paxton himself has little, if any, credibility for any of the allegations he makes. He has piggybacked on the right-wing anti-trans panic by calling gender-affirming health care “child abuse.” His raids against Texas Democrats follow punitive measures even against Republican critics. And then there’s the fact that his own party tried to impeach him last year. If anything, Paxton taking up the “Democrats are getting noncitizens to vote” myth gives it even less credibility.

Jesse Watters made a comment about Vice President Kamala Harris so gross that all his Fox News co-hosts had to call it out.

If elected, Harris is “going to get paralyzed in the situation room while the generals have their way with her,” said Watters during Monday’s episode of Fox’s The Five.

His co-hosts, including Jeanine Pirro and Dana Perino, immediately turned against him and reprimanded Watters by his full name.

“I don’t like that,” said Pirro, “take it back.”

Instead, Watters doubled down that he wasn’t saying anything weird. “Have their way with her, control her—not in a sexual way,” said Watters with a smirk.

Later, the Fox host went on to preempt any criticism of the odd picture he painted, while also tearing his mom down. “I’m sure my mother [would] probably go on MSNBC tonight and say my son, Jesse Watters, made a joke about Kamala Harris being manhandled by generals in the situation room.”

Perhaps Watters should in fact consider listening to his mother before making another unnecessarily gross comment about Harris.

Donald Trump doesn’t like Elon Musk very much, even though the billionaire technocrat is pulling out all the stops to get the former president back into the White House.

Since formally endorsing Trump in July, Musk has raised millions for Trump’s campaign through his America PAC, which has poured $16 million into outreach in the last two weeks alone. Due to an FEC rule passed in March, Musk’s super PAC is able to coordinate directly with the Trump campaign—forming what could be an essential part of Trump’s otherwise flimsy ground game.

Last month, Musk held a glitchy, train-wreck interview with Trump on X that got them both in legal trouble, and the X owner promptly started placing ads for the Republican nominee all over his social media site. Trump went on to mention Musk at several sleepy rallies and chaotic press events, and posted really, really strange stuff to tout their new friendship—but apparently their alliance is purely transactional. In reality, Trump thinks his new ally is … well …

Trump “thinks he’s weird,” one source close to the former president told Rolling Stone. “Sorry to use a word used a lot by Democrats now.” The source had spoken to Trump about Musk as recently as July.

Another source who had been in the room several times while Trump had spoken to Musk told Rolling Stone that the former president had complained about the Tesla CEO a few times, calling him “boring” and describing him as tiresome and moody.

Musk’s pro-Trump PAC has already landed in hot water in Michigan and North Carolina for allegedly collecting personal information under the guise of voter registration, although lawyers for the PAC wrote letters assuring state investigators that “America PAC is utilizing the data it collects to register voters and encourage them to vote.” It doesn’t seem like either state will take immediate action against Musk’s PAC, but both said that they will continue to monitor the group.