Donald Trump sees his request for criminal immunity rejected by a federal appeals court

This is a setback for Donald Trump. A federal appeals court in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, February 6, rejected the former president of the United States’ request for criminal immunity, reopening the way for his trial for trying to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election. Mr. Trump will appeal the decision, his spokesman Steven Cheung announced.

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The front-runner in the Republican primaries for November’s presidential election is seeking through multiple appeals to postpone his various criminal trials as late as possible, at least until after the election. During arguments before the Court of Appeal on January 9, he predicted “Anarchy in the Country” If the American justice system does not drop the charges against him.

“We weighed former President Trump’s asserted interest in immunity against the important public interest in allowing this proceeding to proceed.”

Explain the appeals court’s three judges in their decision that was first pronounced in December. “For purposes of this criminal case, former President Trump has become Citizen Trump, with the same protections as any other defendant. But none of the executive immunity that would have protected him when he was president will no longer protect him from this action.They write.

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There is no date for resumption of procedural acts

However, the decision did not include any mention of the resumption of procedural acts in the case, which was suspended due to appeals and due to which the judge who will preside over the trial proceedings, which was scheduled to take place from March 4. , will announce the indefinite suspension on Friday.

Justice Tanya Chutkan added that “Court will fix new date” If, once the question of immunity was decided, the file returned to his hands. She herself rejected his request for immunity in December, saying no text protects the former president from criminal prosecution. In defense of Donald Trump, it was claimed that a “Complete Immunity” For his actions while in the White House. She cited 1980s Supreme Court case law regarding civil suits against former President Richard Nixon.

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His lawyers also argued that he could not be tried in the case because of his acquittal during the parliamentary impeachment proceedings against him for the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, during which hundreds of his supporters tried to block Joe Biden’s certificate of victory. had done .

In his decision, Judge Chutkan concluded that the Nixon precedent did not apply to criminal proceedings, and that impeachment proceedings did not constitute a criminal trial. “Allowing the president to be prosecuted for his official actions would open a can of worms from which this country may never recover.”Donald Trump’s lawyer, John Sauer, argued before the appeals court.

A judge, Florence Y. Pan, who asked him whether sending special forces to kill a political opponent or selling a presidential pardon came under these official acts, the lawyer replied in the affirmative. “It would be paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to ensure faithful observance of the laws authorizes him to violate the criminal law”.President of the Court, Karen L. Henderson replied.

The case is one of four involving Donald Trump. He faces federal charges for illegally storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida. He has also been indicted in state court in Georgia in connection with secret payments made to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels in that state and in New York during the 2020 election. He denies any wrongdoing.

The world with AFP