Donald Trump predicted Tuesday, January 9, “chaos in the country” if the American justice system did not drop the charges against him, after a hearing at the Federal Court of Appeal in Washington on his request for criminal immunity as ex-president.
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A big favorite in the Republican primaries for the November presidential election, which begins on January 15 in the state of Iowa, Donald Trump is seeking through his multiple appeals to postpone his various criminal trials as late as possible, and in any case after voting.
The three judges on the Washington appeals court expressed skepticism about the request for immunity, aimed at overturning the charges against Donald Trump for trying to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election.
As he announced on Monday, Donald Trump went to the Court to attend, without speaking himself, the debates which lasted more than an hour. Mr. Trump, who pleaded not guilty in this case on August 3, 2023, then once again accused the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden of attempting through these prosecutions to eliminate him from the presidential race, predicting the “chaos in the country”.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will preside over the proceedings at this trial scheduled for March 4, rejected his request for immunity in December, considering that no text protected a former president against criminal prosecution.
“ Allowing a president to be prosecuted for his official actions would open a can of worms from which this country may never recover “, pleaded Tuesday Donald Trump’s lawyer, John Sauer. He raised the possibility of indicting former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, respectively for false information on the weapons available to Iraq in 2003, and for the liquidation of jihadists by drone strikes.
Donald Trump’s defense claims a ” absolute immunity » for his actions while in the White House. She invokes Supreme Court case law from the 1980s concerning civil suits against former President Richard Nixon.
His lawyers also argue that he cannot be tried in this case because of his acquittal during the parliamentary impeachment proceedings against him for the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, during which hundreds of his supporters attempted to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
Whatever the decision of the court of appeal, in all likelihood, the parties it finds wrong will appeal to the highest court in the country. The nine judges of the Supreme Court, six appointed by Republican presidents and three by Democratic presidents, will then have to choose whether to venture into the political arena, or on the contrary to prudently abstain from it.
Donald Trump is also prosecuted by the justice system of the State of Georgia (Southeast) for related acts of election interference, and will also have to answer in federal court for its alleged negligent management of confidential documents after his departure from the White House.
(With AFP)
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