Trump also claims immunity in the case of classified papers

Donald Trump once again claims immunity.

This time he does it in the case of classified papers that the FBI found in a search at Mar-a-Lago, his mansion in Palm Beach (Florida) after the former president improperly retained them.

Trump argues that he should be immune from accusations that he illegally withheld national security documents because they stem from decisions he made in his final weeks as president.

The former president's lawyers have presented several motions demanding that the case be filed with Judge Aileen Cannon, appointed by Trump himself and who has repeatedly made decisions in her favor.

The claim of immunity was already presented by Trump in the Washington case in which he is being investigated for his attempted fraud in relation to the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost against Joe Biden.

Both the judge handling the case, Tanya Chutkan, and the Court of Appeals rejected the former president's immunity in very strong terms.

“Whatever immunities a sitting president may enjoy, the United States only has one chief executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifetime pass out of prison,” Judge Chutkan said in first instance. instance.

“For purposes of this criminal case, former President Trump has become Citizen Trump, with all the defenses of any other criminal defendant.

But any executive immunity that could have protected him while he served as president no longer protects him against this accusation,” said the ruling by the three judges of the Court of Appeals.

“It would be a surprising paradox if the president, who has the ultimate constitutional duty of ensuring faithful compliance with the laws, were the only position capable of challenging them with impunity,” they developed.

Trump, however, has appealed to the Supreme Court and requested that the case be paralyzed while the judges decide whether the former president has immunity from prosecution for alleged crimes committed in the exercise of his office.

Special prosecutor Jack Smith, in charge of both the Washington and Florida cases, has asked the Supreme Court to reject Trump's request and allow the process to move forward.

The former president has already managed to delay the process and has avoided for the moment sitting in the dock in the middle of the Republican Party primaries.

Judge Chutkan had scheduled the trial for March 4, but Trump's resources have forced her to postpone it indefinitely.

Now, history may repeat itself in the Florida court handling the Mar-a-Lago papers case, in which Trump is accused of 40 crimes.

Whether Judge Cannon agrees or denies her, but Trump's lawyers appeal, the case will be delayed and will foreseeably be held later than May 20, which was the date initially scheduled.

The judge has scheduled a hearing for March 1 regarding the trial schedule.

Trump, favorite for the nomination as a Republican presidential candidate, wants to avoid sitting in the dock and being judged before the elections.

If he delays the cases and is elected, he can order the charges in the two federal cases to be dropped.

He could also try to grant himself a pardon if he is convicted in the New York trial and would have a somewhat more complicated time in the Atlanta (Georgia) trial.

The battery of briefs presented by Trump's lawyers before Judge Cannon allege varied reasons for shelving the case.

In one of them, the appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith and the funding he has received are said to be illegal.

Another notes that the allegations conflict with another U.S. law on the use of presidential records.

In addition, Trump's lawyers have also requested that the case be dismissed because the accusations are, in their opinion, too vague and therefore violate the Constitution, according to another document.

They also request the file for violations of due process and for “selective and vindictive” persecution.

Another petition is the one that alleges precisely presidential immunity.

The lawyers note that the charges “revolve around his alleged decision to designate records as personal under the Presidential Records Act (PRA) and have the records moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago.”

Since Trump made this decision while he was still in office, they wrote, “it was an official act, and as such is subject to presidential immunity,” they add.

Prosecutors described this request for immunity as “frivolous” in a previous response, pointing out that the conduct alleged in the accusation occurred all after Trump left the White House, since it was then that he ignored requests to return the documents.

Cannon gives prosecutors until March 7 to respond to these allegations, which already gives an idea that they will serve to delay the process.

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