Trump effort to claim presidential immunity in 2020 election case rebuked by Jack Smith

Former President Donald Trump’s claim that he should be granted absolute immunity in the federal election interference case against him was rebuked in a filing from special counsel Jack Smith’s team Thursday.

Trump asked a federal judge on Oct. 5 to dismiss the Washington, D.C., charges against him, claiming that the acts he was criminally charged for were part of his presidential duties and he should be “absolutely immune from prosecution.”

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However, Smith’s team said in a response that the claim goes against the “fundamental principle that ‘[n]o man in this country is so high that he is above the law.'” They also argued that none of the sources that Trump used in his motion to dismiss support the “absolute immunity he asks the court to create for him.”

“In staking his claim, he purports to draw a parallel between his fraudulent efforts to overturn the result of an election that he lost and the likes of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and George Washington’s Farewell Address. These things are not alike,” the prosecutors wrote.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in his federal election interference case, which is being prosecuted by Smith. Judge Tanya Chutkan brought down a gag order against Trump on Monday, stating that it intends to block “grave threats” ahead of a jury trial. The judge made notable exceptions for political speech as Trump mounts his bid to face President Joe Biden again next November.

Before the order, Trump often labeled Smith as a “thug” and “deranged,” adjectives that could spark sanctions against him, Chutkan said on Monday. On Tuesday, lawyers for the former president filed a notice of intent to appeal Chutkan’s order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

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The former president will stand trial in Washington on March 4, 2024, one day before Super Tuesday.

Trump is also facing three other criminal cases. In Florida, he faces a federal indictment over his handling of classified documents. In Manhattan, he faces charges stemming from alleged hush money payments made during the 2016 election. The former president also will stand trial in Fulton County, Georgia, for efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the Peach State.

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