Donald Trump’s Georgia election interference case should be impeached because presidential candidates are immune from criminal prosecution, the president-elect’s lawyer told a Georgia appeals court on Wednesday.
“The sitting president is absolutely immune from prosecution or any criminal process, state or federal,” Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow wrote in a five-page memo filed Wednesday.
Sadow asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to dismiss the indictment against the trial judge overseeing the case, arguing that local prosecutors are prohibited from interfering with the president’s official duties.
“This is especially true where, as here, there is credible evidence of local bias and political prejudice against the President, who is not only responding to a small portion of the American electorate, but is acting against the will of the people of Georgia as reflected in the results of the recent election,” Sadow argued. .
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty to all charges last year broad racketeering charge For an alleged effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. The four defendants then took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
The case has stalled after Trump and his co-defendants tried to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the case because of her relationship with a fellow prosecutor. Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee refused to dismiss Willis, but the case is on hold as Trump and his co-defendants appeal the decision.
Former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives to speak at Faith & Freedom’s 2024 Majority Conference in Washington, DC, June 22, 2024.
Nathan Posner/Shutterstock
Oral argument before the Georgia Court of Appeals was originally scheduled for Dec. 5, but was postponed. cancel the last one month without explanation.
Sadow asked the same appeals court to dismiss McAfee’s impeachment against Trump, arguing that the impeachment is unconstitutional.
In a similar filing, Trump on Tuesday pleaded guilty to criminal misappropriation of his money in New York discard immediately Because the prosecution disrupts the president-elect’s transition and “threatens the functioning of the federal government.”
Last week a federal judge he threw Trump’s federal election interference case after special counsel Jack Smith was led to dismiss the case because of the Justice Department’s long-standing policy barring the prosecution of the president.
Also the Federal Court of Appeal Trump lowered The government’s ongoing appeal of the Smith classified documents case is based on the same policy.
