Former President Donald Trump speaks throughout a rally Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, in Reno, Nev. In a quick filed Saturday, Trump requested a federal appeals court docket to dismiss an election interference case in opposition to him, arguing he is immune from prosecution.
Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP
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Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP
Former President Donald Trump speaks throughout a rally Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, in Reno, Nev. In a quick filed Saturday, Trump requested a federal appeals court docket to dismiss an election interference case in opposition to him, arguing he is immune from prosecution.
Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP
WASHINGTON — Legal professionals for former President Donald Trump have requested a federal appeals court docket to throw out a case alleging interference within the 2020 election, arguing that he’s immune from prosecution.
“Below our system of separated powers, the Judicial Department can’t sit in judgment over a President’s official acts,” they wrote in a quick filed Saturday evening with the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The transfer got here a day after the U.S. Supreme Court docket declined to quick monitor a dispute over Trump’s immunity from prosecution.
Particular counsel Jack Smith made that plea for urgency in a bid to maintain his felony case in opposition to Trump on monitor for trial beginning March 4. The election interference case is on maintain whereas the query over immunity performs out. The D.C. appeals court docket has agreed to work rapidly, and oral arguments are scheduled for Jan. 9.
Of their temporary, Trump’s legal professionals argue that no present or former president could also be criminally prosecuted for “official acts” until they’ve been impeached and convicted by the Senate. Since that didn’t occur to Trump, they write, he has “absolute immunity.”
Additionally they name the indictment “illegal and unconstitutional” and warn that it “threatens to launch cycles of recrimination and politically motivated prosecution that can plague our Nation for a lot of a long time to return.”
Particular counsel Smith has alleged that Trump went properly past official duties as he waged a months lengthy marketing campaign to overturn the 2020 election outcomes, falsely asserting that the vote had been stolen. His authorized staff pursued dozens of lawsuits in states the place Trump misplaced, and courts repeatedly rejected the claims of election fraud.
At stake within the arguments over immunity is just not solely whether or not Smith’s felony case proceeds, but additionally — if it does — how far into election season it might be pushed.
Trump can be required to look in court docket throughout arguments, which might restrict his election appearances. That would additionally supply grist for his competition that the case is politically motivated. If the trial had been delayed till after November’s vote, and if Trump gained, he would have the ability to have the costs in opposition to him dropped.
In all, Trump faces 91 felony prices in 4 completely different instances, and his authorized staff has sought to delay all of them till after the election.
The Saturday submitting asks that if the appeals court docket guidelines in opposition to the previous president, that it holds off on implementing that call whereas Trump considers requesting a evaluate from the complete appeals court docket or the Supreme Court docket.
