WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith urged a federal appeals court Saturday to reject former President Donald Trump's claims that he is immune from prosecution. ” of the country.
Smith's team's filing was filed ahead of arguments next month on the legally untested question of whether a former president can be prosecuted for actions he committed in the White House.
Although the case is now pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the case will likely return to the Supreme Court, which earlier this month denied the plaintiffs' request for an expedited ruling in their favor and has ruled that Trump can be prosecuted. forced to stand trial on charges that he planned to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election.
The outcome of the dispute is crucial for both sides, especially since the case is essentially on pause while Trump advances his immunity claims to the appeals court.
Prosecutors hope a quick ruling rejecting those arguments will restart the case and keep it on track for a trial, currently scheduled for March 4 in federal court in Washington. But Trump's lawyers will benefit from a lengthy appeals process that could significantly delay the case and possibly push it past the November election.
Trump's lawyers argue that the appeals court should order the dismissal of the case, arguing that as a former president he is immune from prosecution for actions that fell within his official duties as president.
Smith's team has said that no such immunity exists in the Constitution or case law, and that in any case, the actions Trump took in his failed attempt to cling to power are not part of an official's responsibilities president.
The four-count indictment accuses Trump of conspiring to disrupt Congress' certification of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters motivated by his falsehoods about the election results stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent confrontation with police. It is alleged that he participated in a scheme to recruit fake voters in battleground states who would falsely testify that Trump had won those states and encourage then-Vice President Mike Pence to thwart the vote counting.
These actions, prosecutors wrote, fall far outside a president's official duties and were intended solely to help him win re-election.
“A president who unlawfully attempts to retain power through criminal means, unchecked by possible criminal prosecution, could endanger both the presidency itself and the foundations of our democratic system of government officials using fraudulent means to thwart the transition of power and remain in office.” Smith's team wrote.
In their explanatory memorandum, prosecutors also said that while the presidency plays a “critical role in our constitutional system,” so does the principle of accountability in the event of misconduct.
“Rather than vindicating our constitutional framework, the defendants' sweeping immunity claim threatens to authorize presidents to commit crimes to remain in office,” they wrote. “The Founders did not plan for such an outcome and would never have allowed it.”
Although Trump's lawyers have argued that the indictment “threatens the foundation of our republic,” prosecutors say the defense is backtracking.
“It is the defendant's claim that he cannot be held liable for the allegations that he made an unprecedented attempt to retain power through criminal means, despite having lost the elections, which undermines the democratic and constitutional basis of our republic,” they said. .
A three-judge panel will hear oral arguments on January 9. Two of the judges, J. Michelle Childs and Florence Pan, were appointed by President Joe Biden. The third, Karen LeCraft Henderson, was benched by former President George HW Bush.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan previously rejected the immunity arguments, saying the office of president does not grant a “get-out-of-jail-free card.” Trump's lawyers then appealed this decision, prompting Smith to bypass the court and request an expedited decision from the Supreme Court.
The judges rejected that request without explanation last week and left the case to the appeals court.
Trump faces three other criminal charges. He is accused in Florida of illegally keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and faces a state prosecution in Georgia accusing him of subverting that state's 2020 presidential election, and a case in New York in which he is accused of falsifying company records in Florida. in connection with a hush money payment to a porn actress.
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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.
