Trump immunity claim rejected by appeals court in 2020 election case
From CBS News, including complete text D.C. Circuit Court decision.
GUEST POST / By Melissa Quinn, Robert Legare, CBS News-- A federal appeals court in Washington found former President Donald Trump is not entitled to broad immunity from federal prosecution, delivering a landmark decision that would allow the criminal case against the former president involving the 2020 presidential election to move forward if the ruling is upheld.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in its opinion Tuesday that it is upholding the decision from a lower court denying him absolute immunity from prosecution.
"For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant," the panel, consisting of Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Michelle Childs and Florence Pan, wrote in its opinion.
"But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution." Trump will appeal the decision, campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said, though it's unclear whether he will ask the full D.C. Circuit or the Supreme Court to review the panel's decision.
The judges gave Trump until Feb. 12 to ask the nation's highest court to pause its decision before it takes effect. Cheung said in a statement that special counsel Jack Smith's prosecution of Trump is unconstitutional and "threatens the bedrock of our Republic."
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