Trump not immune from prosecution in 2020 election case, says US appeals court

A federal appeals panel has ruled that Donald Trump can face trial on charges that he plot ted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, rejecting the former president’s claims that he is immune from prosecution.

The decision marks the second time in as many months that judges have spurned Mr Trump’s immunity arguments and held that he can be prosecuted for actions undertaken while in the White House and intherun-uptojanuary6,2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol. But it also sets the stage for additional appeals from Trump that could reach the US Supreme Court.

The trial was originally set for March, but it was postponed last week and the judge did not immediately set a new date.

“We conclude that the interest in criminal accountability, held by both the public and the executive branch, outweighs the potential risks of chilling presidential action and permitting vexatious litigation,” the judges wrote.

The trial date carries enormous political ramifications, with the Republican primary front-runner hoping to delay it until after the November election.

If Mr Trump, inset, defeats President Joe Biden, he could presumably try to use his position as head of the executive branch to order a new attorney general to dismiss the federal cases or he potentially could seek a pardon for himself.

The appeals court took centre stage in the immunity dispute after the Supreme Court last month said it was at least temporarily staying out of it, rejecting a request from special counsel Jack Smith to take up the matter quickly and issue a speedy ruling.

The legally untested question before the court was whether former presidents can be prosecuted after they leave office for actions taken in the White House related to their official duties.

The Supreme Court has held that presidents are immune from civil liability for official acts, and Mr Trump’s lawyers have for months argued that that protection should be extended to criminal prosecution as well.

They said the actions Mr Trump was accused of all fell within the “outer perimeters” of a president’s official acts.

But Mr Smith’s team has said that no such immunity exists in the US Constitution.