Former President Donald Trump slammed a presidential immunity ruling on Tuesday after a federal appeals court ruled he could not invoke the privilege in relation to charges on his alleged efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Trump claimed the ruling was “not what our founders wanted,” and that the office loses its power if there was no presidential immunity. Trump has been indicted on four counts related to his alleged efforts.
“Without Presidential Immunity, the Presidency will lose its power and prestige, and under some Leaders, have no power at all,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “The Presidency will be consumed by the other Branches of Government. THAT IS NOT WHAT OUR FOUNDERS WANTED!”
A three-judge panel on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously found that Trump cannot invoke presidential immunity in the four-count indictment, claiming allowing him to do so would place him outside the scope of the three branches of government.
“We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter,” the court said.
The ruling comes after Trump previously attempted to argue that presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for actions taken in office unless they are first impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate.
The panel of judges pointed to Trump’s lawyers’ arguments during his second impeachment trial being the opposite of what his argument is now. At the time, Trump’s team told senators he could be criminally charged later, even if they didn’t convict him in the political trial. That line of argument, the judges said, might have been what swayed the senators from barring the former president from ever holding office again.
“The forty-three Senators who voted to acquit him relied on a variety of concerns, many of which had nothing to do with whether he committed the charged offense,” the judges wrote. “Indeed, at least thirty Senators who voted to acquit relied at least in part on a belief that the Senate lacked the power to convict a former president.”
Trump’s presidential campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, argued that if immunity is not granted to Trump, “every future President who leaves office will be immediately indicted by the opposing party.”
“Without complete immunity, a President of the United States would not be able to properly function,” Cheung said in a statement after the ruling. “Deranged Jack Smith’s prosecution of President Trump for his Presidential, official acts is unconstitutional under the doctrine of Presidential Immunity and the Separation of Powers. Prosecuting a President for official acts violates the Constitution and threatens the bedrock of our Republic.”
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The case could now be appealed to the Supreme Court, or Trump’s legal team could request an en banc review at the appeals court, meaning the case would be heard again, but this time by the full circuit court.
Another appeal will further delay the trial, which was initially scheduled for March but has been delayed until the immunity issue has been resolved. Trump’s legal team has until Monday to file an appeal.
