Judges skeptical of Trump's immunity claim in election subversion case

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court yesterday questioned Donald Trump's claims that he is immune from criminal charges for trying to overturn the 2020 election, and the former president threatened to prosecute Joe Biden if he returns to the White House.

Trump looked on as his legal team sought to convince a panel of three judges that former presidents should not be prosecuted for actions they took in office. Trump is due to go to trial in March on federal charges of election subversion.

The judges reacted skeptically to that argument. "You're saying a president could sell pardons, could sell military secrets, could tell SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival?" Judge Florence Pan asked Trump lawyer D. John Sauer.

Sauer said that a former president could be charged for such conduct only if first impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted in the Senate.

After the hearing, Trump said he was the victim of political persecution and warned of "bedlam in this country" if the case is allowed to go forward.

"It's the opening of Pandora's box," he said at a hotel that he used to own near the courthouse. He did not respond when asked whether he would tell his supporters not to resort to violence.

Trump made a more pointed threat prior to the hearing, saying he might prosecute Biden, a Democrat, if he defeats him in the Nov. 5 presidential election.

"If I don't get immunity then crooked Joe Biden doesn't get immunity," Trump said in a video posted to social media. "Joe would be ripe for indictment."

U.S. prosecutors argue that Trump was acting as a candidate, not a president, when he pressured officials to overturn the election results and encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 to pressure Congress not to certify Biden's victory.

Trump, who lost to Biden in the 2020 election, has opened up a commanding lead over his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination since the first criminal charge against him was announced last March.