US prosecutors file revised charges against Donald Trump in 2020 election case

Good morning. We have exclusive stories today about upheaval at Swedish fintech Klarna’s board and worries over China’s debt market.

But first, we turn to Washington, where Donald Trump’s legal woes have been thrust back into the spotlight just two months before the presidential election.

Special counsel Jack Smith has just filed a revised set of charges against Trump over his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The superseding indictment is an attempt to comply with a Supreme Court decision that recognised broad immunity from criminal prosecution for presidents.

It contains the same four core charges that Smith filed against the former president last year in connection with the aftermath of the 2020 election and the lead-up to the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Here’s what’s been taken out.

• Robert F Kennedy Jr: Trump has tapped his onetime campaign rival to serve on his presidential transition team, together with fellow ex-Democrat Tulsi Gabbard.

Between turmoil in the markets and a relentless US election cycle, it has been an unusually busy summer for the Financial Times newsroom. If you have any questions about our recent coverage, reply to this email and include your name and where you’re writing from. We’ll answer them in a special weekend edition of FirstFT (P.S. I’d also love to hear your questions about this newsletter. – Tee)

And here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Pavel Durov: The legal limit for the Telegram CEO’s detention expires tonight. Read our analysis of how the billionaire’s miscalculated neutrality backfired.

• Results: Nvidia is expected to report quarterly sales more than doubled, while CrowdStrike releases its first earnings since the botched software update that sparked a global IT outage. Other companies reporting include Prudential, HP and Salesforce.

• Paris Paralympics: The summer Games for athletes with disabilities open in the French capital.

The annual FT Weekend Festival is here, featuring speakers such as Wes Streeting, Lesley Sharp and FT experts. Join us on September 7 in London and online for a Saturday filled with debates, tastings, masterclasses and more. FirstFT readers get a special discount — register here now.

Five more top stories

1. Exclusive: Klarna’s board is weighing the removal of a crucial ally of one of the company’s co-founders ahead of its planned blockbuster listing. A decision on whether to oust Mikael Walther, a confidant of founding partner Victor Jacobsson, could be reached at a board meeting scheduled for today.

• More on Klarna: The CEO of the Swedish buy now, pay later group told the Financial Times that it planned to halve its workforce in an AI-driven cost-cutting drive.

2. An oil tanker set ablaze by a Houthi missile attack last week now appears to be leaking crude into the Red Sea, the US warned yesterday. This is the first serious environmental damage as a result of the campaign waged by the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels since November. Here’s more on what the Pentagon has called a “potential environmental catastrophe”.

3. Exclusive: China’s plans to issue billions of dollars of government bonds could burst a “bubble” in the country’s treasury market, people close to the central bank have warned. Months of frenzied buying have driven up prices and pushed yields below 2.2 per cent, leading to the high possibility of a “significant reversal”.

• Debt divide: Beijing’s reluctance to take on more responsibility for spending while cracking down on debt-laden local governments lies at the heart of China’s economic challenges, writes Robin Harding.

4. Exclusive: Half of European Investment Bank staff fear reprisals if they speak up about misconduct, according to the findings of its first survey on whistleblowing mechanisms. The results reflect widespread and long-standing disquiet at the world’s biggest multilateral lender, whose former president is under investigation on suspicion of corruption and misuse of funds.

5. The National Football League will allow the private equity industry to invest in teams for the first time after approving sweeping changes to its ownership policies. Each approved investor has committed to invest at least $2bn and can divide that across multiple teams, with the total set to reach $12bn. Here are the buyout firms named as preferred buyers.

The Big Read

In Saudi Arabia this year, 1,301 pilgrims died after walking in nearly 50C weather during the hajj. In India, authorities have reported more than 40,000 cases of suspected heatstroke during a prolonged heatwave and at least 110 deaths. While cities around the world are forced to adapt to hotter summers, individual experiences of the searing heat vary according to wealth, entrenching and exacerbating inequality.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Accounting: The fight for audit quality has turned nasty, writes Stephen Foley, as big firms such as PwC and BDO try to kill a rule requiring external oversight.

• UK economy: Businesses and wealthy households are bracing for tax rises after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s speech about a “painful” October Budget.

• Gaza crisis: The multiple wars that have afflicted the Palestinian territory have made many children orphans, but aid officials say nothing has been on the scale of the current Israeli onslaught.

Graphic of the day

After Moscow launched its biggest missile and drone strikes on Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stepped up appeals to lift restrictions on the use of western weapons against targets inside Russia, an issue that has divided Kyiv’s allies.

Take a break from the news

Opened in 1979, L’As du Fallafel serves Natalie Portman’s “favourite meal in Paris”. Ajesh Patalay tries their version of the popular chickpea snack to find out: Is this the best falafel in Europe?

Additional contributions from Melody Abike Adebisi and Benjamin Wilhelm