Former US President Donald Trump demanded, Thursday, October 6, from the courts that the proceedings against him in Washington in connection with the 2020 election be dismissed, arguing that he could not be charged for the actions taken while he was at the White House.
Mr. Trump, Republican favorite for the 2024 presidential election, must be tried from March 2024 in the capital. He is accused of maneuvering to try to reverse the result of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
His lawyers sent a request of around fifty pages to federal judge Tanya Chutkan, who will preside over the proceedings. “The court should definitively dismiss the charge, due to presidential immunity”, they wrote. This argument is unlikely to succeed, experts say, but it could delay the start of the trial if it turns out to be decided by the Supreme Court.
The responsibility to “guarantee the integrity of elections”
Similar attempts by Mr. Trump in other cases have been rejected by judges, but the temple of American law has never directly said whether a former head of state enjoyed immunity from criminal prosecution. Donald Trump is the first former president of the United States to be criminally charged.
Citing a case involving former President Richard Nixon that was considered by the Supreme Court, his lawyers argued that the law guarantees a “absolute immunity” to the president “for acts falling within the external scope of his official responsibilities”.
“The current administration has indicted President Trump for actions that fall not only within the outer perimeter, but also at the core of his official responsibilities as president.”, they said. Because as chief executive, they argued, Mr. Trump had a responsibility to “guarantee the integrity of elections” and was entitled to contest the result of the 2020 election.
The legal calendar promises to be busy for the Republican billionaire, who wants to reconquer the White House in 2024. He is also being prosecuted by the justice system of the State of New York in a case of alleged accounting fraud linked to payments to buy silence of an adult film actress, and in Georgia in connection with the 2020 election.