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After Donald Trump was indicted over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, there was never a question about whether the former president and his lawyers would offer a robust defense. Rather, the question was what they might say about the Republican’s actions.
As NBC News reported, the answer is coming into focus.
Former President Donald Trump argued Thursday in a court filing that he should be shielded from prosecution in the 2020 election interference case because of presidential immunity, claiming his efforts to overturn his election loss and remain in the White House were at “the heart of his official responsibilities as President.”
Trump’s actions “are within the ambit of his office, and he is absolutely immune from prosecution,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the court filing.
To be sure, the pitch is likely to be a tough sell in court. An American president’s official duties are broad, but they arguably don’t include efforts to overturn election results.
But there was another element to the court filing that struck me as notable. From an Associated Press report:
Trump’s lawyers also argue his 2021 impeachment trial acquittal bars his prosecution, saying the Constitution suggests presidents can only be criminally charged in cases where they are impeached and convicted by the Senate.
“President Trump was acquitted of these charges after trial in the Senate, and he thus remains immune from prosecution. The Special Counsel cannot second-guess the judgment of the duly elected United States Senate,” his lawyers wrote.
So let me get this straight. Trump was impeached by a bipartisan majority in the House. His case went to the Senate, where a bipartisan majority voted to convict. One Senate Republican conceded, independent of the political impeachment process, that she believed Trump’s actions were “unlawful.”
Meanwhile, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, after the Senate “trial,” delivered remarks on the chamber floor about Trump’s legal liabilities. “President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen,” McConnell said, adding, “He didn’t get away with anything yet — yet. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one.”
Trump’s lawyers nevertheless expect a criminal case to be scrapped in part because of “the judgment of the duly elected United States Senate”?
If the former president and his defense counsel expect this to work, they might want to lower their expectations.