A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected Donald Trump’s argument that he is immune from criminal prosecution on charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election results because it related to actions he took while president, and refused to endorse such sweeping access to executive power. explanation of.
The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit cast particular doubt on Trump’s position that he can be indicted only if he is first convicted in a Senate impeachment trial.
“We cannot accept former President Trump’s assertion that the president has unlimited power to commit crimes that would negate the most fundamental limits on executive power,” the three-judge panel said in the unsigned but unanimous opinion.
“Ultimately, former President Trump’s positions would have placed the President beyond the reach of all three branches, thereby dismantling our system of decentralized powers,” the opinion said. “We cannot accept that the Office of the President has since placed its former incumbents under Above the law.”
The panel gave Trump until February 12 to notify the D.C. Circuit that he would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay of the decision — or else pretrial proceedings would resume. If he appeals, the case will not return to Chutkan until the Supreme Court makes a final decision.
Last year, Trump filed a motion to dismiss a federal election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, which accused the former president of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat, including by advancing false electors and obstructing Congress on Jan. 6.
The motion was denied by the trial judge, prompting Trump to appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court. The special counsel tried to circumvent a potentially lengthy appeals process by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to address the matter directly, but the U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back to the appeals court.
Trump’s defeat was largely expected, as his appeals lawyer John Sauer filed a lawsuit last week in a lawsuit led by Michelle Childs, Karen Henderson Karen Henderson and Florence Pan found themselves on the defensive during oral arguments before a three-judge panel composed of Karen Henderson and Florence Pan.
During the hearing, Sauer was forced to argue with a skeptical Pan, who noted that Trump’s interpretation meant the president could hypothetically self-pardon, sell military secrets or order the assassination of a political opponent without ever having to face criminal liability.
The panel also questioned whether Trump’s position in 2024 was contrary to his second impeachment trial in 2021, when his lawyers urged the Senate to acquit him as the Justice Department was supposed to decide whether Trump participated in the January 6 Capitol attack events of rebellion.
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Trump’s attempt to overturn criminal charges on the grounds of presidential immunity was not because his lawyers believed they would succeed in getting the indictment dismissed, but because they recognized it was a possibility that would delay his trial date by months. Methods.
Trump has made no secret that his first legal strategy is to seek a delay because if he were to win the 2024 presidential election in November and the trial has not yet begun or been completed, he could appoint an attorney general who would drop the charges against him. By.
Even if Trump fails to delay the trial until after the election, he wants it to happen as close to Election Day as possible because he can use that as political ammunition to claim the charges are political in nature, according to people familiar with the matter. Trump’s strategy.
