Advocates are warning of potential danger if the U.S. Supreme Court grants former President Donald Trump immunity from a federal criminal case against him for his alleged involvement in trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump requested that the high court halt his election interference trial set for next month on the basis that he is “immune” from criminal prosecution.
Markus Batchelor, national political director at People For the American Way, told theGrio that this is “another classic attempt by former President Trump to subvert the law.”
Trump, he said, “understands that the only way for him to evade accountability is to delay the trial and hope that he gets re-elected to the White House.
Donald Sherman, senior vice president for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told theGrio that the former president believes he is above the law and “that the law should not apply to him because he was president.”
“Trump uses every procedural legal tool at his disposal, legitimately or otherwise, to delay any litigation that would result in holding him accountable,” said Sherman.
On Monday, Trump’s legal team asked the justices to pause a lower court’s ruling, arguing that the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner is immune from prosecution for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election while in office.
In August 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Trump on felony charges after he allegedly tried to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power to then-President-elect Joe Biden by inciting a riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Charges include conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstructing an official proceeding, and conspiracy.
A trial date for the case was set for March 4, 2024, which will likely be delayed given this most recent petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Following Trump’s indictment, his legal…
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