WASHINGTON — Donald Trump on Tuesday made his case to the U.S. Supreme Court that his Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt was part of his official duties as president and is therefore immune from prosecution.
“The president cannot function, and the presidency itself cannot retain its vital independence, if the president faces criminal prosecution for official acts once he leaves office,” Trump lawyer John Sauer wrote in a 67-page brief.
Sauer repeated arguments he and other Trump lawyers had tried previously, including the notion that Trump can only be prosecuted for actions if he has previously been impeached for them by the House and convicted by the Senate.
Trump was impeached by the House over Jan. 6, but the 57 votes to convict in the Senate were 10 shy of the supermajority necessary.
Sauer’s brief states that the lack of previous criminal prosecutions against former presidents for their conduct in office is proof that the legal authority to prosecute Trump for the same does not exist. It did not mention that Trump is the first president in the country’s history to not accept defeat after an election and to attempt to remain in office.
Sauer also repeats the previously tried claim that if Trump is not given immunity, every future president would be similarly at risk of prosecution. “A denial of criminal immunity would incapacitate every future president with de facto blackmail and extortion while in office, and condemn him to years of post-office trauma at the hands of political opponents,” he wrote.
Trump’s claims have previously been rejected by both a trial court and a federal appellate court. A rejection by the Supreme Court — which many legal observers say is likely — could force him to undergo trial on conspiracy and fraud charges in the Jan. 6 case this autumn, just as many voters are starting to pay attention to a coming election in which Trump hopes to regain the White House.
In that scenario, a parade of onetime Trump aides, possibly including…
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