A court in Washington has found that the former President of the United States, Donald Trump does not enjoy presidential immunity He is accused of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and inciting the attack on the United States Capitol from 2021.
“For purposes of this criminal case, former President Trump has become Citizen Trumpwith all the defenses of another defendant,” the District of Columbia Court of Appeals stated.
And therefore: “everyone Executive Immunity “That may have protected him during his term as president, but it no longer protects him from this prosecution,” the court wrote.
Hard blow for Trump’s defense
The ruling is a major blow to Trump’s defense, which argued that the conduct the government accused him of was not the case Special Prosecutor Jack Smith This was part of his official duties as president and therefore exempted him from criminal liability.
Presumably, the New York tycoon’s defense will appeal the verdict to take the case to the United States Supreme Court.
The presidential immunity argument has become one recurring weapon for Trump’s lawyers, who are trying to delay the court date as much as possible to avoid coinciding with the November presidential election, in which he is running as the heavy favorite for the Republican nomination.
The court’s decision came after Trump asked the appeals court on December 24 to overturn the decision of a lower court judge who had rejected his legal team’s immunity claims at the time.
In a letter to the appeal court, Trump’s legal team He pointed out that the accusation was unconstitutional because presidents cannot be prosecuted unless they have been previously convicted by a court senate.
“Under our system of separation of powers, the judiciary cannot pass judgment on a president’s official actions,” said Trump’s lawyers, who claimed that the former president was carrying out his “official duties” on the day of the events and overseeing the integrity of the 2020 election .
The federal judge ruled on February 2nd Tanya Chutkan from Washingtonwhich is handling the Capitol attack case, has postponed the start of the trial, which was scheduled to begin March 4, pending the resolution announced today.
The one in Washington is one of four criminal complaints against Trump in various courts
The Republican magnate will be in one Georgia State Court for allegedly leading a mafia conspiracy to change the election results in the state where he lost to the current president, Joe Biden.
He was indicted in New York for allegedly making irregular payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, with whom he had a “affair” in the past to buy his silence during the 2016 election campaign.
During his stay in Florida, he is accused of illegally removing and storing secret documents that he had taken with him in his villa in Mar-a-Lago, Florida White House after leaving power.
This will be a crucial week for Trump as the Supreme Court will consider on February 8th whether the 14th Amendment disqualified the former president from taking part in the elections because various states accused him of having a “revolt” in 2021.