Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Trump, Citing Immunity, Seeks Dismissal of Federal Election Charges
Breitbart ^ | 5 Oct 2023

Posted on 10/05/2023 5:19:25 PM PDT by SoConPubbie

Former President Donald Trump filed a motion on Thursday seeking the dismissal of federal election conspiracy charges on the grounds he cannot be prosecuted for actions he took while in the White House.

Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is to go on trial in Washington in March of next year for allegedly conspiring to subvert the results of the November 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

The former president’s lawyers, in a 52-page motion to US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, argued the charges should be thrown out.

“The Court should dismiss the indictment, with prejudice, on grounds of Presidential immunity,” they said.

Trump’s bid to invoke the presidential immunity defense is considered a long shot by legal observers but it could result in a delay to the start of the trial as the argument wends its way up to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court.

Trump’s attempts to use the so-called “absolute immunity” defense in other cases have been rebuffed by judges, but the nation’s highest court has never ruled directly on whether a former chief executive is immune from criminal prosecution.

Trump is the first former US president to face criminal charges.

Trump’s attorneys, citing a Supreme Court case involving former president Richard Nixon, said the law provides “absolute immunity” to the president “for acts within the ‘outer perimeter’ of his official responsibility.”

“Breaking 234 years of precedent, the incumbent administration has charged President Trump for acts that lie not just within the ‘outer perimeter,’ but at the heart of his official responsibilities as President,” they said.

As chief executive, they argued, Trump had a responsibility to “ensure election integrity” and was within his rights to challenge the results of the 2020 vote.

“The prosecution falsely claims that President Trump’s motives were impure — that he purportedly ‘knew’ that the widespread reports

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: chutkan; immunity; trump

1 posted on 10/05/2023 5:19:25 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

He is right...


2 posted on 10/05/2023 5:23:29 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

“Former President Donald Trump filed a motion on Thursday seeking the dismissal of federal election conspiracy charges on the grounds he cannot be prosecuted for actions he took while in the White House.”

That is so effin’ true.

As Nixon said: If the President did it, it was LEGAL.


3 posted on 10/05/2023 5:24:38 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

This is awesome. Godspeed President Trump.


4 posted on 10/05/2023 5:34:00 PM PDT by jacknhoo (Luke 12:51; Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Openurmind

Exactly!


5 posted on 10/05/2023 5:36:44 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

This is Trump’s path to the SCOTUS.


6 posted on 10/05/2023 5:38:12 PM PDT by Gahanna Bob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: No name given

If something like that comes up while serving as President all they can do is impeach at that time. It doesn’t count or apply after the fact.


7 posted on 10/05/2023 5:46:29 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

Seems like that argument should require Supreme Court juridiction.


8 posted on 10/05/2023 5:57:33 PM PDT by farmguy ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

This is why Trump should be Speaker. Could you imagine Trump Subpoenaing the Judge and Prosecutor and Questioning them under OATH LIVE ON TV as the Head of Congress?


9 posted on 10/05/2023 5:58:22 PM PDT by eyeamok
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Openurmind

“If something like that comes up while serving as President all they can do is impeach at that time. It doesn’t count or apply after the fact.”

You’ll recall they did impeach Trump, after he left office over this very matter, and he was acquitted.

Presidential immunity aside, would double jeopardy not apply?


10 posted on 10/05/2023 5:59:42 PM PDT by Bshaw (A nefarious deceit is upon us all!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Bshaw

Makes sense to me...


11 posted on 10/05/2023 6:02:19 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Openurmind

100% but that won’t stop the deep state. Let’s hope his SCOTUS picks were the right ones.


12 posted on 10/05/2023 6:16:25 PM PDT by for-q-clinton (Cancel Culture IS fascism...Let's start calling it that!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Openurmind

For the record after impeachment, they can be prosecuted. So that’s not the argument to make.


13 posted on 10/05/2023 6:19:59 PM PDT by for-q-clinton (Cancel Culture IS fascism...Let's start calling it that!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: for-q-clinton

Any reasonable 3rd party analysis of this motion available yet?


14 posted on 10/05/2023 6:28:25 PM PDT by TheConservator (Either the Deep State destroys America, or we destroy the Deep State!--President Donald Trump)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Openurmind

Exactly.


15 posted on 10/05/2023 6:46:10 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: eyeamok

I think it would be Great entertainment but he definitely won’t have the votes. First two are in the house who impeached trump. Only two more no votes needed. He can only lose four.


16 posted on 10/05/2023 7:39:40 PM PDT by napscoordinator (DeSantis is a beast! Florida is the freest state in the country! )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson