Here are 2 reasons why Trump’s 'presidential immunity' claims are 'doomed to fail': legal expert

11 October 2023

Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results are the focus of two separate criminal prosecutions he is facing — one led by special counsel Jack Smith for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the other by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for the State of Georgia.

Trump is arguing that his actions following that election cannot legally be prosecuted because he enjoyed "presidential immunity." But MSNBC's Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor, tears that argument apart in an op-ed published on October 11.

"On their merits," the MSNBC legal analyst explains, "Trump's arguments fail for two reasons. First, the doctrine of presidential immunity is understood to extend to civil cases, not criminal ones. Second, presidential immunity applies to a president's official acts. Trump's attempt to thwart the peaceful transfer of power can't be said to fall within the scope of his official responsibilities as the president."

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Levinson notes that although Trump's "presidential immunity" argument is "doomed to fail," he is obviously trying to "postpone his federal criminal trials" in the hope that he will win the 2024 presidential election and, in 2025, "maybe pardon himself or order his attorney general to try to drop the cases."

"Trump's claims of presidential immunity should fail," Levinson observes. "But by bringing these arguments at all, his efforts to delay the trial may succeed. And if that were to happen, it would confirm the truth of the legal maxim 'justice delayed is justice denied.'"

Read Jessica Levinson's full MSNBC article at this link.

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