JD Vance Says Jack Smith’s Indictment Is ‘Classic Lipstick on a Pig’

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s fresh indictment of former President Donald Trump is a “classic” example of “lipstick on a pig,” Ohio Senator JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, said Tuesday.
Smith filed a new indictment against Trump on Tuesday. It does not include any new charges but reworked the same four felony counts that Trump was indicted on last August—all of which he has consistently denied.
Trump was indicted on four counts of allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The new indictment takes into account the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that granted any sitting U.S. president immunity when their alleged crimes were committed as part of official duties.
“I mean the one thing that I did see, which I felt was just classic lipstick on a pig, is, you know of course, 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,” Vance said in Nashville, Tennessee.
“And yet, Jack Smith tried to redefine Mike Pence from ‘the Vice President’ to ‘the running mate’ as if somehow changing those words in an indictment undercuts the fact that Mike Pence is still the sitting vice president and it still directly implicates the president’s official act.”
The indictment does refer to Pence as Trump’s “running mate,” but it also repeatedly refers to him as “vice president” throughout its 36 pages.
The indictment argues that several of Trump’s actions were motivated by a personal desire to maintain power, rather than in his official capacity as president.
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Department of Justice for comment.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social: “In an effort to resurrect a ‘dead’ Witch Hunt in Washington, D.C., in the act of desperation, and in order to save face, the illegally appointed ‘Special Counsel’ Deranged Jack Smith, has brought a ridiculous new Indictment against me, which has all the problems of the old Indictment, and should be dismissed IMMEDIATELY.
“The whole case should be thrown out and dismissed on Presidential Immunity grounds, as already ruled unequivocally by the U.S. Supreme Court. Smith rewrote the exact same case in an effort to circumvent the Supreme Court Decision.”
Similarly to Trump’s response, Vance called the move “an effort to try and do more election interference.”
Vance added: “[Jack Smith] should be ashamed of himself and it’s one of the reasons we have to win—because he should not be anywhere near power.”
The Ohio senator went on to discuss the Supreme Court ruling in general, saying “there has to be some range where the president can act, within that range, without having his livelihood destroyed.”
He praised the differentiation made between presidential acts and personal in the ruling, adding: “I thought the way they actually divided that conduct and tried to protect the president’s official duties—that seems sensible to me.”
Newsweek has contacted Trump’s team for comment.