3 federal appeals court judges expressed deep skepticism on Tues about #Trump’s central #defense to an #indictment accusing him of plotting to overturn the #2020election: that he is #immune to the charges because they arose from actions he took as #president.
All of the judges of the #UnitedStates Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit — 2 Democratic appointees & 1 Republican appointee — peppered a lawyer for Trump w/tough questions about arguments he raised to support the #immunity claims.
While the 3 judges also pressed James Pearce — a lawyer representing the #SpecialCounsel, #JackSmith — their queries to him were not quite as aggressive. The panel adjourned the hearing after about an hour & 15 mins & reserved judgment for another day.
The case is expected to eventually reach #SCOTUS. Its pace & outcome will be central in deciding when — or if — #Trump will go to #trial in the #ElectionInterference case. It could also determine the timing of Trump’s 3 other #criminal trials.
In one tough moment for #Trump, who was present but did not speak, Judge Karen Henderson, the sole #Republican appointee on the panel, pushed back on an argument made by his #lawyer, D. John Sauer, that for >200 yrs, American courts had never sat in judgment over ofcl actions a president had taken while in office.
Judge Henderson also seemed less than persuaded by Sauer’s argument that #Trump was acting in his role as president & upholding his #constitutional duty to preserve the integrity of the #election when he sought to overturn his loss to President #Biden.
“I think it’s paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed’ allows him to violate #criminal#law,” Judge Henderson said.
At one point, Judge Florence Pan presented Sauer w/a hypothetical situation, asking if a president could be #criminally charged for ordering SEAL Team 6 to #assassinate a #political rival. Sauer said that a #prosecution would be possible in that situation only if the president had first been found #guilty in an #impeachment proceeding.
When Pearce addressed the court on behalf of the #SpecialCounsel’s office, he seized on Judge Pan’s example. Pearce said it was a terrifying prospect that a #president could use the #military to #murder a rival & then escape #criminal#liability by simply resigning before he could be #impeached.
#Trump claimed Dems were trying to keep him from the presidency through the #criminal case rather than the ballot box. He said there would be “bedlam” if he lost the case.
DISINFORMATION:
“I worked very hard on voter fraud because we have to have free elections, & we found tremendous voter fraud. We have a list of it, we have some findings if you want it. Press doesn’t like reporting it but we found tremendous voter fraud. Determinative. But we worked on that, that’s what I was doing.”
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