The presidential candidate is accused of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
Former US President Donald Trump has arrived at a Washington court for an appeals hearing as he seeks to be declared immune from prosecution on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost.
The outcome of the arguments heard in the court will not only have ramifications for the criminal case against Trump but also for the broader and legally untested question of whether an ex-president can be prosecuted for acts committed while in the White House.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the case against Trump, is eager to get the case to trial before November’s election, in which Trump is running again. The case has been put on hold for the appeal.
Trump’s lawyers are not only seeking to dismiss the case but are also hoping to benefit from a protracted appeals process that could delay the trial past its scheduled March 4 start date, even potentially after the election.
Trump is not required to attend Tuesday’s arguments, especially as the Republican presidential caucuses in the state of Iowa are one week away, but his appearance signals how important this case is for his re-election campaign.
“Of course I was entitled, as President of the United States and Commander in Chief, to immunity,” Trump wrote on social media.
“I was looking for voter fraud, and finding it which is my obligation to do, and otherwise running our Country.”
While former presidents have enjoyed broad immunity, no former leader before Trump has ever been indicted, so courts have never addressed whether that protection extends to criminal prosecution.
Trump’s lawyers argue that it does, that his prosecution would represent a departure from more than two centuries of American history and would open the door to future “politically motivated” cases.
But Smith’s team argues that presidents are not entitled to absolute immunity and the acts that Trump is alleged to have carried out in the indictment – including scheming to get supporters as fake electors in battleground states and pressing his vice president, Mike Pence, to reject the count in favour of now-President Joe Biden – fall outside a president’s job.
“Immunity from criminal prosecution would be particularly dangerous where, as here, the former President is alleged to have engaged in criminal conduct aimed at overturning the results of a Presidential election to remain in office beyond the allotted term,” Smith’s team wrote in a brief.
“A President who unlawfully seeks to retain power through criminal means unchecked by potential criminal prosecution could jeopardise both the Presidency itself and the very foundations of our democratic system of governance,” it added.
A federal judge overseeing the case against Trump had sided with Smith. Now judges on the US Court of Appeals will decide.
It’s not clear how quickly they will rule on the appeal, but the court has signalled they intend to work quickly.