Trump Files Appeal In 2020 Election Case

Former President Donald Trump tried to get a federal appeals court to dismiss special counsel Jack Smith’s case against him, in which he is accused of planning to overturn the 2020 election results.

Trump Asks Federal Appeals Court To Dismiss 2020 Election Case https://t.co/gVauejBiIU pic.twitter.com/7DL1itoMxT

— Daily Wire News (@DailyWireNews) December 24, 2023

In a 71-page filing, his lawyers argued that he has “absolute immunity from prosecution for his official acts” as president at the time. According to the defense team, his attempts to “advocate for and defend the integrity of the federal election, in accord with his view that it was tainted by fraud and irregularity,” should not be punished.

Trump’s presidential immunity defense has already been struck down alongside his First Amendment claim by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who ruled that the GOP presidential candidate’s “four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.”

After Trump’s defense filed an appeal on Chutkan’s presidential immunity ruling, Smith’s team asked the appellate court to expedite the considerations. That request was granted and the courts will be taking oral arguments on Jan. 9, 2024.

Smith’s team had tried to go over the federal appeals court by asking the Supreme Court to take up and rule on the presidential immunity claim swiftly.

However, that request was rejected last week. Now, the Supreme Court will begin considerations on the case on March 4, 2024.

Trump was indicted in the case in August, with Smith saying that the “unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy” on January 6 was “fueled” by Trump’s alleged lies “targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government, the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election.”

Smith is also leading another criminal investigation into Trump regarding his handling of classified documents when he was president. The GOP front runner has, however, denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the prosecutions are nothing but a politically motivated “witch hunt” against him.