Donald Trump has asked a Washington appeals court to dismiss a federal indictment accusing him of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, in his latest attempt to avoid prosecution.
The former president's lawyers filed a brief late Saturday night with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, claiming he is immune from charges because they stem from actions he took while in the White House have.
It's the latest development in an ongoing and crucial legal battle between Trump and special counsel Jack Smith over election interference.
The 77-year-old Republican argued that the case should be dismissed because former presidents cannot be prosecuted for conduct related to their official responsibilities.
In a 55-page briefing to the court, Trump attorney John D. Sauer pointed out that judges are constitutionally unable to hold the president accountable for actions committed while in office.
“In our system of separation of powers, the judiciary cannot judge the official actions of a president. “This doctrine is not controversial,” Sauer wrote.
Donald Trump's lawyer filed a lawsuit late Saturday night with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, asking that the federal indictment accusing him of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election be dismissed
As Trump urged his supporters to rally against Joe Biden's 2020 election victory, he found himself in a long-running dispute with special counsel Jack Smith (pictured) over election interference and whether the former president had immunity
Trump supporters storm the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021, after he claimed the election was stolen
The filing states what the former president's lawyers have repeatedly claimed – that Trump worked in his official capacity as president to “ensure the integrity of the election.”
“The unbroken tradition of not exercising the supposedly tremendous power to prosecute a president for official acts — despite numerous motives and opportunities to do so over centuries — implies that this power does not exist,” Sauer wrote.
His lawyers argued that the charges were unconstitutional and that Trump could only be prosecuted for “official acts” if he was impeached and convicted by the Senate.
“The Constitution provides strong structural controls to prevent political factions from abusing the powerful threat of criminal prosecution to incapacitate the President and attack their political enemies,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the filing Saturday.
“Before an individual prosecutor can ask a court to rule on the president’s conduct, Congress must have agreed to it by impeaching and convicting the president,” they argued.
“That didn’t happen here, and so President Trump enjoys absolute immunity.”
The judge in the case, Tanya S. Chutkan, said just weeks ago that the former president was “not eligible for life out of prison.”
Judge Chutkan argued that despite his previous status as president, Trump could still be “the subject of a federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction and punishment for any criminal acts committed during his term in office.”
The appeals court has expedited consideration of Trump's appeal and will hear oral arguments on Jan. 9, days before the Iowa election.
Trump's lawyers filed a 55-page brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia asserting that presidents cannot be prosecuted for conduct related to their official responsibilities
Judge Tanya S. Chutkan (pictured) said just weeks ago that the former president was “not eligible for life out of prison.”
Trump lawyer John D. Sauer pointed out that under the Constitution, judges have no ability to hold the president accountable for actions committed while he was in office
Prosecutors have accused Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, of trying to obstruct Congress and defraud the U.S. government by trying to reverse Democratic President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.
They say Trump broke the law by trying to pressure state lawmakers into decisions that would keep him in power, including pressuring the Justice Department to confirm claims of voter fraud in the 2020 campaign.
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected an attempt by Smith to have the case heard immediately before the Washington DC court could make a decision.
Trump called Smith's attempt to expedite the case a “desperate attempt to circumvent our great Constitution.”
“The Supreme Court has unanimously rejected crazy Jack Smith’s desperate attempt to circumvent our great Constitution,” he said on Truth Social.
“The corrupt Joe Biden and his henchmen have waited three years to bring this bogus case, and now they have tried in vain to bring this witch hunt to justice.”
“Of course I am entitled to presidential immunity.” “I was president, it was my right and my duty to investigate and speak out about the rigged and stolen 2020 presidential election.”
The decision was a victory for the Republican presidential candidate and raises the likelihood that his federal election interference trial, scheduled to begin March 4, will be delayed.
Now Trump's legal troubles could come closer to or even after the Nov. 5 general election, in which he is vying for a rematch with 81-year-old Joe Biden.
If Trump is re-elected to the White House for a second term on November 5, he could seek to pardon himself for any federal crimes – although constitutional scholars disagree about whether he would have the authority to do so
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the former president said Smith's attempts to have the case heard by the Supreme Court before the D.C. Circuit Court ruled was a “desperate attempt to circumvent our great Constitution.”
The justices, three of whom Trump appointed, will also hear the Colorado case over whether he can be barred from the vote because of his “insurrectionists.”
If Trump is re-elected to the White House for a second term on November 5, he could seek to pardon himself for any federal crimes – although constitutional scholars disagree about whether he would have the authority to do so.
Trump still has to deal with a thicket of lawsuits.
The Stormy Daniels case in New York, in which Trump is charged with falsifying business records related to porn star Stormy Daniels' $130,000 payoff, is scheduled to go to trial on March 25.
Trump's case related to the attempt to overturn the election continues to progress in Georgia, and he has also been accused of conspiring to conceal national security documents at Mar-a-Lago in a Florida trial that is months behind schedule.
If Trump is re-elected to the White House on November 5, he could seek to apologize for any federal crimes – although constitutional scholars disagree about whether he would have the authority to do so.