Former President Donald Trump is arguably one of America’s most controversial political figures. This means he’s typically subject to intense and prolonged public debates. True to his fashion, Trump has made the headlines yet again for another controversial reason. His move to dismiss the criminal charges against him in Georgia due to presidential immunity.
Electoral interference charges said Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election by pressuring state officials to reject the results that favored Joe Biden. The Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s office says he acted beyond the powers of his office by doing so.
Trump’s 13 criminal counts include violating Georgia’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (Rico), conspiracy to impersonate a public officer, committing forgery, and filing false statements. Four of the 18 other co-accused in his case have pleaded guilty to various crimes.
However, Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts, saying that he is the subject of a political witch hunt. He also argued, “The indictment is barred by presidential immunity and should be dismissed with prejudice.” “The power to indict a current or former President for official acts does not exist,” the Fulton County Superior Court filing read.
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Trump’s lawyers said, “From 1789 to 2023, no President ever faced criminal prosecution for acts committed while in office. That unbroken historic tradition of presidential immunity is rooted in the separation of powers and the text of the Constitution.”
This was the same argument he made in the now-paused federal election interference case against him.
The federal case will only continue after an appeals court hears Trump’s arguments on his claims. However, judging by the Federal appeals court judge’s disposition on Tuesday, January 8, the outcome may not favor his immunity position.
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It’s noteworthy that Trump has also filed two separate motions to support his arguments for dismissing the Georgia criminal case.
The first argues that the charges conflict with his rights to due process as the ex-president “did not have fair warning that his alleged conduct, pure political speech and expressive conduct challenging an election, could be criminalized.” Meanwhile, the second motion is based on double jeopardy and argues that Trump has already been acquitted of similar charges in 2021.
In a statement, Steve Sadow, Trump’s attorney, summarized this by saying, “President Trump has filed three persuasive, meritorious pretrial motions seeking a complete dismissal of the indictment and thus an end to the Fulton County District Attorney’s politically-based prosecution.”
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Willis has said that the charges against Trump are void of any political undertone. Even though she’s a Democrat, she insists that Trump and the other accused persons were charged to court solely because they violated various Georgia laws.
Meanwhile, Willis has also been accused of having “improper” romantic relations with one of the case’s lead prosecutors. Although the allegation, sponsored by Michael Roman, a co-defendant in the case, wasn’t backed by concrete evidence, Roman wants his charges dismissed as “the entire prosecution is invalid and unconstitutional.”
The DA’s office has refused to comment on the recent developments.
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