Federal prosecutors rejected former President Donald Trump’s claims that he loved “absolute immunity” from prosecution after he was indicted in Washington, D.C., over his efforts to stay in energy after shedding the 2020 presidential election.
Trump’s attorneys are looking for to have the 4 federal costs filed towards him dismissed, claiming any act he took main as much as the Jan. 6, 2021, rebellion on the Capitol ought to be thought-about a part of his presidential duties. The legal professionals moved to forged Trump’s statements to carry on to energy and successfully undertake a coup as an try to “guarantee election integrity,” including a president should, at occasions, have the ability to take “daring and unhesitating motion” with out worry of prosecution.
Their 52-page submitting earlier this month in contrast Trump’s feedback earlier than the violent assault on the Capitol to these of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Federal prosecutors rejected these assertions in a submitting with the Federal District Court docket in Washington.
“The defendant just isn’t above the legislation,” prosecutors wrote. “He’s topic to the federal felony legal guidelines like greater than 330 million different Individuals, together with members of Congress, federal judges, and on a regular basis residents.”
“In staking his declare, he purports to attract a parallel between his fraudulent efforts to overturn the outcomes of an election that he misplaced and the likes of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Handle and George Washington’s Farewell Handle,” the submitting continued. “This stuff aren’t alike.”
Trump has been indicted in 4 separate circumstances this yr and has vehemently rejected all costs towards him. His trial in Washington, overseen by Choose Tanya Chutkan, is scheduled to start in March because the 2024 presidential race begins in earnest. Trump, who’s vying for the GOP nomination, might very effectively be compelled to marketing campaign similtaneously he sits in court docket for a lot of subsequent yr.
The Justice Division has typically held a coverage that sitting presidents can’t be indicted. However as The New York Occasions notes, Trump’s makes an attempt to say he’s immune from all prosecution for something he did whereas in workplace — even after he left the White Home — can be an exceedingly broad interpretation of the justice system.
“No authorized precept, case, or historic observe helps the conclusion {that a} former president is immune from felony prosecution for conduct undertaken throughout his presidency,” prosecutors wrote Thursday.