Special counsel Jack Smith pushed back on claims that Trump has immunity from prosecution
From CNN's Zachary Cohen and Katelyn Polantz
Special Counsel Jack Smith arrives to deliver remarks on a recently unsealed indictment against former President Donald Trump at the Justice Department on June 9, 2023, in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Special counsel Jack Smith pushed back on former President Donald Trump’s claim that he should be cloaked with absolute immunity from criminal prosecution.
In a filing at the end of December, he argued that the sweeping assertion “threatens to license Presidents to commit crimes to remain in office.”
Trump's lawyers will present oral arguments before a US appeals court in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.
Smith said Trump asserts "that this prosecution ‘threatens … to shatter the very bedrock of our Republic.’ To the contrary: it is the defendant’s claim that he cannot be held to answer for the charges that he engaged in an unprecedented effort to retain power through criminal means, despite having lost the election, that threatens the democratic and constitutional foundation of our Republic,” according to the new filing.
Smith warned that allowing a former president this kind of broad immunity poses extreme danger.
“The implications of the defendant’s broad immunity theory are sobering. In his view, a court should treat a President’s criminal conduct as immune from prosecution as long as it takes the form of correspondence with a state official about a matter in which there is a federal interest, a meeting with a member of the Executive Branch, or a statement on a matter of public concern,” the filing reads.
Pre-trial proceedings were temporarily put on hold in the criminal case pending Trump’s appeal. The trial was initially scheduled to begin on March 4.
The former president’s lawyers have advocated repeatedly for the trial to take place after the 2024 presidential election in November, with Trump’s fight over the immunity claim underscoring those efforts.
24 min ago
How Trump's lawyers are expected to argue the former president has immunity
From CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz and Devan Cole
Former President Donald Trump speaks at an event in Washington, DC, in June. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Donald Trump's lawyers are set to argue in federal court today that the former president is immune from prosecution stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump is asking the federal appeals court to throw out the federal election subversion criminal case in Washington, DC, arguing that he is protected under presidential immunity.
Trump wants the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower-court ruling rejecting his claims of immunity in special counsel Jack Smith’s case.
The appeals panel is weighing Trump’s request, which the Supreme Court previously refused to take up on an expedited basis after a request by Smith.
The filing at the end of December reiterates what the former president’s lawyers have repeatedly asserted — that Trump was working in his official capacity as president to “ensure election integrity” when he allegedly undermined the 2020 election results and therefore has immunity, and that his indictment is unconstitutional because presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for “official acts” unless they are impeached and convicted by the Senate.
“The Constitution establishes a powerful structural check to prevent political factions from abusing the formidable threat of criminal prosecution to disable the President and attack their political enemies,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
“Before any single prosecutor can ask a court to sit in judgment of the President’s conduct, Congress must have approved of it by impeaching and convicting the President,” Trump's lawyers wrote in the filing. “That did not happen here, and so President Trump has absolute immunity.”
What's at stake: The former president has been attempting to delay his March 4 trial in the case, with his fight over the immunity claim underscoring those efforts. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing his criminal case, temporarily paused all procedural deadlines while the appeal plays out.
His lawyers are expected to argue that Trump was working in his official capacity as president to “ensure election integrity” when he allegedly undermined the 2020 election results and therefore has immunity, according to a filing.
The former president has been attempting to delay his March 4 trial. The judge overseeing the criminal case has temporarily paused all procedural deadlines.
Special Counsel Jack Smith arrives to deliver remarks on a recently unsealed indictment against former President Donald Trump at the Justice Department on June 9, 2023, in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Special counsel Jack Smith pushed back on former President Donald Trump’s claim that he should be cloaked with absolute immunity from criminal prosecution.
In a filing at the end of December, he argued that the sweeping assertion “threatens to license Presidents to commit crimes to remain in office.”
Trump's lawyers will present oral arguments before a US appeals court in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.
Smith said Trump asserts "that this prosecution ‘threatens … to shatter the very bedrock of our Republic.’ To the contrary: it is the defendant’s claim that he cannot be held to answer for the charges that he engaged in an unprecedented effort to retain power through criminal means, despite having lost the election, that threatens the democratic and constitutional foundation of our Republic,” according to the new filing.
Smith warned that allowing a former president this kind of broad immunity poses extreme danger.
“The implications of the defendant’s broad immunity theory are sobering. In his view, a court should treat a President’s criminal conduct as immune from prosecution as long as it takes the form of correspondence with a state official about a matter in which there is a federal interest, a meeting with a member of the Executive Branch, or a statement on a matter of public concern,” the filing reads.
Pre-trial proceedings were temporarily put on hold in the criminal case pending Trump’s appeal. The trial was initially scheduled to begin on March 4.
The former president’s lawyers have advocated repeatedly for the trial to take place after the 2024 presidential election in November, with Trump’s fight over the immunity claim underscoring those efforts.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at an event in Washington, DC, in June. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Donald Trump's lawyers are set to argue in federal court today that the former president is immune from prosecution stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump is asking the federal appeals court to throw out the federal election subversion criminal case in Washington, DC, arguing that he is protected under presidential immunity.
Trump wants the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower-court ruling rejecting his claims of immunity in special counsel Jack Smith’s case.
The appeals panel is weighing Trump’s request, which the Supreme Court previously refused to take up on an expedited basis after a request by Smith.
The filing at the end of December reiterates what the former president’s lawyers have repeatedly asserted — that Trump was working in his official capacity as president to “ensure election integrity” when he allegedly undermined the 2020 election results and therefore has immunity, and that his indictment is unconstitutional because presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for “official acts” unless they are impeached and convicted by the Senate.
“The Constitution establishes a powerful structural check to prevent political factions from abusing the formidable threat of criminal prosecution to disable the President and attack their political enemies,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
“Before any single prosecutor can ask a court to sit in judgment of the President’s conduct, Congress must have approved of it by impeaching and convicting the President,” Trump's lawyers wrote in the filing. “That did not happen here, and so President Trump has absolute immunity.”
What's at stake: The former president has been attempting to delay his March 4 trial in the case, with his fight over the immunity claim underscoring those efforts. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing his criminal case, temporarily paused all procedural deadlines while the appeal plays out.
