Trump asks for immunity in election interference case

to Donald Trump's new demand overnight to drop the federal investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election the former president and his lawyers insisting presidential immunity protects him from prosecution but that's been up for debate in the courts ABC's AA jachi has more on what the former president is saying tonight tonight Donald Trump doubling down on his lawyers arguments that he should be immune from prosecution in his federal election interference case the former president posting on social media I was doing my duty is President I did nothing wrong in a 71-page filing overnight Trump's attorneys demanding immunity writing under our system of separated Powers the judicial branch cannot sit in judgment over a president's official acts Trump's lawyers contend no current or former president should be prosecuted for official acts unless he is first impeached and convicted by the Senate Congress acquitted Trump in his two impeachments he has denied any wrongdoing Trump's lawyers also warning that that if the case is taken to trial it will launch cycles of recrimination and politically motivated prosecution that will plague our nation for many decades to come they're searching for every opportunity to delay to make broad sweeping claims to prevent these trials special Council Jack Smith alleges Trump acted Beyond His official duties as he used deceit toward State officials to subvert the legitimate election results the US Supreme Court on Friday rejecting Smith's request to FastTrack this very dispute over Trump's immunity the sweeping claims of absolute immunity I think will ultimately even with this Supreme Court not hold but it's going to take a while to get there that's the problem District Judge Tanya chuckin who is overseeing the case rejecting Trump's immunity argument earlier this month writing whatever immunities a sitting president enjoy the United States has only one chief executive at a time Rachel the Appel court has signaled that it plans to move quickly with oral arguments beginning on January 9th still its decision will almost certainly be challenged the Supreme Court potentially delaying the trial's March 4th start date Rachel and of course all of this playing out against the backdrop of the Republican primary all right Ike thank you hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 191,198

Keywords: abc, attorneys, court, election, federal, immunity, interference, news, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-105905070, trump, wnt

Id: V8aUdlPdM04

Length: 2min 26sec (146 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 25 2023