Donald Trump’s Georgia election interference case must be dismissed as a result of a sitting president is immune from legal prosecution, the president-elect’s lawyer informed a Georgia appeals courtroom on Wednesday.
“A sitting president is totally immune from indictment or any legal course of, state or federal,” Trump’s legal professional Steve Sadow wrote in a five-page discover filed on Wednesday.
Sadow requested the Georgia Court docket of Appeals to direct the trial choose overseeing the case to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that native prosecutors are prohibited from interfering with a president’s official duties.
“That is notably true the place, as right here, there’s compelling proof of native bias and political prejudice in opposition to the President by the native prosecutor, who not solely solutions to a tiny section of the American voters however is performing in clear opposition to the desire of the residents of Georgia as mirrored by the current election outcomes,” Sadow argued.
Trump and 18 others pleaded not responsible final yr to all expenses in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election within the state of Georgia. 4 defendants subsequently took plea offers in alternate for agreeing to testify in opposition to different defendants.
The case has been on pause after Trump and his co-defendants launched an effort to have Fulton County District Legal professional Fani Willis disqualified from the case over her relationship with a fellow prosecutor. Fulton County Decide Scott McAfee declined to disqualify Willis, however the case has been paused as Trump and his co-defendants enchantment the choice.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives to talk at Religion & Freedom’s 2024 Highway to Majority Convention in Washington, DC on June 22, 2024.
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An oral argument earlier than the Georgia Court docket of Appeals was initially scheduled for Dec. 5, however was unexpectedly canceled final month with out clarification.
Sadow requested the identical appeals courtroom to direct McAfee to dismiss the indictment in opposition to Trump on the grounds that the prosecution is unconstitutional.
In an identical submitting, Trump on Tuesday requested that his legal hush cash case in New York be instantly dismissed as a result of the prosecution disrupts the president-elect’s transition and “threatens the functioning of the federal authorities.”
A federal choose final week threw out Trump’s federal election interference case after particular counsel Jack Smith moved to the dismiss the case because of the Justice Division’s standing coverage prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.
A federal appeals courtroom additionally dropped Trump from the federal government’s ongoing enchantment of Smith’s categorised paperwork case primarily based on the identical coverage.
