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ATLANTA (CN) — Former President Donald Trump filed a motion Monday seeking to dismiss the criminal charges against him in Georgia, claiming that he has presidential immunity against prosecution.
Represented in the matter by attorney Steve Sadow, Trump argues the 13 felony charges filed against him should be dismissed because the efforts to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia were part of his presidential duties.
“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,” Trump says in the motion.
The judge overseeing the federal election subversion case against Trump already rejected Trump’s immunity claim last month. A D.C. Circuit panel will hear arguments on the matter Tuesday.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the federal probe, asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue, with the hope that the justices’ intervention would prevent a delay to Trump’s Washington trial, set to begin in March 2024. But the justices declined his petition for a speedy review.
Trump’s immunity defense draws on another Supreme Court ruling involving another former president, Nixon v. Fitzgerald , which granted Richard Nixon immunity from a civil suit lodged by a government employee. Fitzgerald , however, granted Nixon immunity only from civil suits directly linked to his role as the country’s chief executive.
“Such immunity is particularly appropriate for the president because the presidency involves especially sensitive duties, requires bold and unhesitating action, and would be crippled by the threat of politically motivated prosecutions,” Trump says in the motion.
The motion largely mirrors those pursued by Trump in Washington. He argues that under the U.S. Constitution, the exclusive method to proceed against a president for crimes allegedly committed in office is by impeachment in the House of Representatives and trial in the Senate.
Trump filed two other motions to dismiss the charges Monday. One cites due process concerns, arguing that Trump could not have reasonably foreseen that his political speech and conduct following the 2020 election could be criminalized.
In the other, Trump claims the charges should be dismissed because of double jeopardy concerns, citing his acquittal on articles of impeachment in the U.S. Senate in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. He says the impeachment arose from the same purported conduct and facts described in the criminal indictment in the Georgia case.
“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,” Sadow said in a statement released Monday.
“Also still pending is President Trump’s First Amendment as-applied challenge, which seeks the same relief,” he added.
That motion was filed in November and in it Trump says his claims about voter fraud were “core political speech” protected by the First Amendment. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has already dismissed similar First Amendment challenges from two other defendants in the case — attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell — citing numerous court cases in ruling that a factual record must be established at trial before considering such challenges. Chesebro and Powell later accepted plea deals.
Trump and 19 of his allies were charged by Fulton County prosecutors with racketeering and related criminal charges stemming from efforts to overturn Biden’s victory based on false voting fraud allegations. The indictment brought this past August accuses the defendants of knowingly and willfully joining a conspiracy to change the outcome of the 202 presidential election in Trump’s favor.
While a trial date has not yet been scheduled, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is seeking an August start date. Four defendants have pleaded guilty, bringing the total number of defendants down to 15 including Trump.
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