Donald Trump Tries New Legal Move Days Before Christmas

Donald Trump's lawyers have urged a federal appeals court to dismiss the election subversion case against him, arguing that he has "absolute immunity" and cannot be charged for actions that fell within his official duties as president.

Trump faces charges accusing him of working to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to President Joe Biden ahead of the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021. He has denied any wrongdoing.

In a 55-page brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Saturday, Trump attorney John Sauer argued that under the Constitution, judges cannot hold the president accountable for any acts undertaken while in office.

Sauer also argued that presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for any "official acts" unless they are first impeached and then convicted by the Senate.

The conduct alleged in the indictment constitute "officials acts," Sauer wrote, because they all reflect Trump's "efforts and duties, squarely as chief executive of the United States, to advocate for and defend the integrity of the federal election, in accord with his view that it was tainted by fraud and irregularity."

The Constitution "establishes a powerful structural check to prevent political factions from abusing the formidable threat of criminal prosecution to disable the president and attack their political enemies," Sauer wrote.

He added that before "any single prosecutor can ask a court to sit in judgment of the president's conduct, Congress must have approved of it by impeaching and convicting the president. That did not happen here, and so President Trump has absolute immunity."

A president also cannot face criminal prosecution "based on conduct for which he was acquitted by the U.S. Senate," Sauer argued. "The indictment against President Trump is unlawful and unconstitutional. It must be dismissed."

One of Trump's "most sacred obligations and responsibilities" as president "was to ensure that the election process was conducted in a way that complied with the law, including investigating and challenging widespread election fraud and irregularities," Steven Cheung, a spokeman for Trump, said In a statement to Newsweek.

"As made clear in our appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals [on Saturday], President Trump has absolute immunity from prosecution, and litigation, for carrying out his sworn and solemn duties as president, both because of presidential Immunity and due to the long-standing doctrine of Double Jeopardy, since President Trump was vindicated by the Senate on these very same sham charges," the statement said.

"Consistent with binding Supreme Court case law, the unconstitutional prosecution of President Trump must be dismissed. Prosecutions of political opponents are the hallmark of banana republics, not our great country. The D.C. circuit should throw out this indictment and help make America great again."

The filing came after the Supreme Court on Friday said it would not immediately take up a plea by Special Counsel Jack Smith to rule on whether Trump can be prosecuted for his alleged actions to overturn the 2020 election results.

That decision, which averts a swift ruling that could have thrown out Trump's claims of immunity, was a blow to Smith's hopes of keeping the March 4, 2024, trial on track. The former president and his lawyers have repeatedly sought to delay the trial as he campaigns to reclaim the White House in 2024.

"Of course I am entitled to Presidential Immunity," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform after the Supreme Court denied Smith's request. "I was President, it was my right and duty to investigate, and speak on, the rigged and stolen 2020 Presidential Election."

He added that he was looking forward to having his case heard before the appeals court.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the election subversion case, has already put the case on hold while Trump pursues his claim that he is immune from prosecution.

She earlier rejected arguments that Trump could not be prosecuted in the case.

"Whatever immunities a sitting president may enjoy, the United States has only one chief executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong 'get-out-of-jail-free' pass," Chutkan wrote in a December 1 ruling.

"Former presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability. [A] defendant may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office."

The Washington case is one of four Trump is facing as he seeks to return to the White House.

He has separately been charged by Smith with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, which is set for trial in May.

He has also been charged by state prosecutors in Georgia with trying to subvert the 2020 election result in that state, and in New York in connection with an alleged hush-money payment made to an adult film actor during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing in all of the cases and said they are part of a politically motivated effort to derail his 2024 campaign.