Donald Trump has responded with a familiar spray about “witch hunts” after being hit with a new federal indictment in his bid to overturn his 2020 US election defeat.

US Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team obtained a new indictment in the Washington case on Tuesday, after prosecutors narrowed their approach following the US Supreme Court ruling that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution.

The revised indictment lays out the same four charges it brought against the Republican former US president in 2023 focusing on Trump’s role as a political candidate seeking re-election, rather than as the president at the time.

The Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that Trump cannot be prosecuted for actions that were within his constitutional powers as president.

Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But the former president turned to his Truth Social platform to unleash a string of posts, riffing on a familiar theme.

“In an effort to resurrect a ‘dead’ Witch Hunt in Washington, DC, in an 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,” he wrote in one.

In another, much longer, post, he said it was “shocking” the action had come so soon after the Supreme Court ruling.

“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!” he ranted.

“They cheated on the Election, and they go after me for ‘cheating on the Election’ …What they are doing now is the single greatest sabotage of our Democracy in History.”

Another post on Trump Social.

Trump also used the new indictments as the basis for a flurry of emails soliciting donations to his campaign.

“I WAS JUST INDICTED AGAIN!” he wrote in one email, and said it was “Another Jack Smith HOAX!”

It came as Trump’s rival in the race to the White House, Vice-President Kamala Harris agreed to her first major TV interview since taking the Democratic presidential nomination.

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will sit down with CNN anchor and chief political correspondent Dana Bash in the battleground state of Georgia on Thursday.

The show, dubbed “The First Interview: Harris & Walz – A CNN Exclusive”, will air at 9pm Thursday (noon on Friday, AEST).

The Trump campaign has previously criticised Harris for not sitting for a full interview or holding a news conference since President Joe Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed her.

Elsewhere, Trump confirmed on Tuesday (local time), he would participate in a planned debate against Harris – two days after he suggested he might skip it.

“I have reached an agreement with the Radical Left Democrats for a Debate with Comrade Kamala Harris,” he wrote on Truth Social.

The debate is set for September 10 in Philadelphia.

More charges for Trump

The revised indictment no longer includes allegations that Trump sought to pressure the Justice Department to try to overturn his election defeat, an apparent effort to keep the prosecution alive after the court found that Trump could not be prosecuted for that conduct.

This indictment, like the initial one, accuses Trump of a multi-part conspiracy to block the certification of his election defeat to Biden.

Trump is again seeking election as the Republican candidate, this time in a race against Harris. The election is on November 5.

The case was presented to a new grand jury, one that had not heard evidence from the original case, a Justice Department spokesman said.

The new version of the indictment hinges on key testimony and evidence from witnesses largely outside the federal government.

They include former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, whom the indictment says was pressured by Trump and a co-conspirator to call a special session to hold a hearing based on bogus assertions of voter fraud.

-with AAP