Oct. 20 (UPI) — The Justice Department is asking the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case to reject his request to throw it out over alleged presidential immunity, arguing that the former president is “not about the law.”
The filing from federal prosecutors on Thursday comes in response to Trump’s ask of the court earlier this month to dismiss special counsel Jack Smith’s federal election interference case against him on the grounds that he has presidential immunity as the charges are related his efforts to “ensure election integrity.”
The federal prosecutors countered that while Trump’s argument of claiming immunity to circumvent the established legal principle that no man is above the law is novel, he is, in fact, not above it.
“He is subject to the federal criminal laws like more than 330 million other Americans, including members of Congress, federal judges and everyday citizens,” the Department of Justice said in its 54-page filing.
“None of the sources the defendant points to in his motion — the Constitution’s text and structure, history and tradition, or Supreme Court precedent — supports the absolute immunity he asks the Court to create for him.”
Trump is facing four counts accusing him of conspiracy to overthrow the 2020 presidential election. The president, who is facing three other indictments, is trying to have this one thrown out, and in his filing earlier this month, claimed he is shielded from criminal prosecution for official presidential conduct.
Prosecutors not only argue against Trump’s claim of immunity but that he wrongly frames the allegations in the indictment. They also wrote that a president enjoys two forms of immunity, but that neither the temporary immunity from criminal liability nor the absolute immunity from civil liability protects them absolutely.
“To the contrary, the existence of both immunities is premised on the availability of criminal liability once a former president is out of office,” the Justice Department said.
“The defendants motion to dis miss should be denied on the ground that a former president cannot claim any immunity from federal criminal prosecution.”
