Special counsel urges appeals court to reject Trump immunity defense
Special counsel Jack Smith urged an appeals court to reject former President Donald Trump's efforts to dismiss his federal election interference case on presidential immunity grounds.
Special counsel Jack Smith urged an appeals court on Saturday to reject former President Donald Trump's efforts to dismiss his federal election interference case on presidential immunity grounds.
In a more than 80-page filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Smith argued against Trump's insistence that presidential immunity protects him from prosecution on federal charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
"Separation-of-powers principles, constitutional text, history, and precedent all make clear that a former President may be prosecuted for criminal acts he committed while in office — including, most critically here, illegal acts to remain in power despite losing an election," prosecutors wrote.
"Rather than vindicating our constitutional framework, the defendant's sweeping immunity claim threatens to license Presidents to commit crimes to remain in office," they added. "The Founders did not intend and would never have countenanced such a result."
Smith filed his opposition in response to a Dec. 23 brief to the D.C. Circuit from Trump's lawyers that said the Constitution and other immunity doctrines protected against the criminal prosecution of a current or former president for official acts "unless he is first impeached and convicted by the Senate."
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