Trump’s legal team had recently requested U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to dismiss the federal election subversion case…reports Asian Lite News
Federal prosecutors said that Donald Trump is “not above the law,” urging a judge to reject the former president’s attempt to dismiss charges related to his alleged involvement in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Trump’s legal team had recently requested U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to dismiss the federal election subversion case, arguing that he was immune from prosecution for actions taken during his presidential tenure.
In response, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team submitted a filing asserting that neither the Constitution nor legal precedent supports the idea that a former president, including Trump, is immune from prosecution for criminal actions committed while in office.
They made it clear that “the defendant is not above the law” and should be subject to federal criminal laws like any other American, including Members of Congress, federal judges, and ordinary citizens.
The matter now rests in the hands of Judge Chutkan, who faces the challenge of addressing the largely untested question of a former president’s claim of immunity from criminal prosecution. However, her decision may not be the final word on the matter.
If the defence fails to persuade Judge Chutkan, they have the option to take their arguments to a federal appeals court and, potentially, to the Supreme Court, which currently has a conservative majority, according to Associated Press report.
Meanwhile, a New York court employee was arrested after trying to approach Donald Trump at a Manhattan courtroom, where he made another appearance in his civil fraud trial.
On Wednesday, the woman was stopped by court officers before she got near Trump and no one involved in the trial was in any danger, Xinhua news agency quoted a statement from the Office of Court Administration as saying.
The unnamed woman was charged with contempt of court in the second degree for disrupting a court proceeding.
She has been placed on administrative leave and prohibited from entering any state court facilities.
Trump was at the courtroom on Tuesday and Wednesday for the third week of the trial, after he attended the first three days of the trial when it got underway earlier this month.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused Trump and his company of inflating the value of their assets to obtain more favorable business deals and boost Trump’s net worth.
The former President and his attorneys have strongly denied the allegations.
Before the trial began earlier this month, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled Trump and his company liable for fraud, saying they provided false financial statements for nearly a decade.
The trial is expected to continue until mid-December.