Prosecutors urge appeals court to reject Trump’s immunity claims in election subversion case

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, saying the suggestion that he cannot be held accountable for crimes committed during his mandate “threatens the democratic and constitutional foundation.” ” from the country.

The presentation by Smith’s team was made ahead of arguments next month on the legally untested question of whether a former president can be prosecuted for acts committed while in the White House.

Although the matter is now being considered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, it is likely to come back before the Supreme Court, which earlier this month rejected prosecutors’ request for a quick ruling. in his favor, arguing that Trump may be forced to stand trial on charges of conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The outcome of the dispute is critical for both sides, especially since the case has been effectively halted while Trump advances his immunity claims in the appeals court.

Prosecutors hope a quick ruling rejecting those arguments will restart the case and keep it on track for 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 potentially take it beyond the November election.

Trump’s lawyers argue that the appeals court should order the case to be dismissed, arguing that as a former president he is exempt from prosecution for acts that fell within his official duties as president.

Smith’s team has said that such immunity does not exist in the Constitution or case law and that, in any case, the actions Trump took in his failed effort to cling to power are not part of the official responsibilities of a president.

The four-count indictment accuses Trump of conspiring to disrupt the certification of electoral votes in Congress on January 6, 2021, when rioters motivated by his falsehoods about the election results stormed the US Capitol in a violent confrontation with police. He alleges that he participated in a scheme to recruit lists of fake electors in battleground states who would falsely attest that Trump had won those states and encourage then-Vice President Mike Pence to thwart the vote count.

Those actions, prosecutors wrote, fell outside a president’s official duties and were intended solely to help him win re-election.

“A president who illegally seeks to retain power through criminal means without scrutiny of possible criminal prosecution could jeopardize both the presidency itself and the very foundation of our democratic system of government officials by using fraudulent means to thwart the transfer of power.” and remain in office.” Smith’s team wrote.

In their brief, prosecutors also said that while the presidency plays a “vital role in our constitutional system,” so does the principle of accountability in case of wrongdoing.

“Rather than vindicating our constitutional framework, the broad claim of defendant immunity threatens to authorize presidents to commit crimes to remain in office,” they wrote. “The Founders did not intend and would never have tolerated such an outcome.”

While Trump’s lawyers have argued that the impeachment threatens “the very foundation of our Republic,” prosecutors say the defense has gotten it backwards.

“It is the defendant’s assertion that he cannot be held accountable for charges that he engaged in an unprecedented effort to retain power through criminal means, despite having lost the election, that threatens democratic and constitutional foundations.” of our Republic,” they said. .

A three-judge panel will hear 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 appointed to the position by former President George HW Bush.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan previously rejected immunity arguments, stating that the presidency does not confer a “get out of jail free card.” Trump’s lawyers then appealed that decision, prompting Smith to try to bypass the court and ask for an expedited decision from the Supreme Court.

Last week, the justices denied that request without explanation, leaving the matter in the hands of the appeals court.

Trump faces three other criminal proceedings. He is accused in Florida of illegally retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property and faces a state prosecution in Georgia accusing him of attempting to subvert the 2020 presidential election in that state and a case in New York accusing him of forgery. business records in connection with a hush money payment to a porn actress.

___

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.