ANALYSIS – The American banana republic soap opera that is the political persecution of Donald Trump continues. On February 6, a federal appeals court ruled that Donald Trump is not immune from criminal prosecution for alleged crimes committed during his presidency.
Therefore, barring a different ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, Trump still faces four criminal investigations via a weaponized local and federal criminal justice system.
With his third presidential bid under way for 2024, Trump is the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.
The ruling marks the second time in as many months that judges have rebuffed Trump's immunity arguments and held that he could be prosecuted for actions undertaken while in the White House and in the run-up to January 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
“For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant,” the court wrote. “But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.”
“We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter,” the judges wrote.
Perhaps it shouldn't preclude former presidents being charged criminally for illegal acts they may commit after they leave office, but that wasn't the argument.
For the entire 234-year history of our Republic (counting back to the 1789 final ratification of the U.S. Constitution rather than the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776), the precedent has always been that we don't prosecute our presidents.
This, to avoid politicized prosecutions as we now see with Trump. If a president commits “high crimes or misdemeanors” it's the role of the Congress to impeach and convict him.
Meanwhile, the first trial for the most obviously political case, relating to Trump's actions leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, was initially set for March 4. Last week it was postponed pending the resolution of Trump's immunity appeal.
This case, led by Jack Smith, has four counts.
As CNN reported:
Trump's third indictment is a result of special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into alleged efforts by the former president and his allies to overturn the 2020 election. The indictment alleges Trump and a co-conspirator “attempted to exploit the violence and chaos at the Capitol by calling lawmakers to convince them … to delay the certification” of the election. It also alleges another co-conspirator pushed then-Vice President Mike Pence to “violate the law” to delay President Joe Biden's victory. The Trump campaign released a statement shortly after the indictment denying the allegations. Trump pleaded not guilty to all four counts.
The trial date carries enormous political ramifications, with Jack Smith's team hoping to prosecute Trump this year and the Republican front-runner hoping to delay it until after the November election.
If Trump defeats Joe Biden, which is increasingly likely, he could presumably order a new attorney general to dismiss the federal cases, or he could seek a pardon for himself.
But the other three criminal cases are also ongoing. One of them is also being led by Jack Smith and involves Trump's keeping and mishandling of classified documents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. It consists of 42 counts.
The second one is the ludicrous case brought against Trump in Manhattan by leftist district attorney Alvin Bragg for supposed hush money payments to a porn actress prior to the 2016 election. It contains 34 counts.
And the final case is the increasingly chaotic, and clearly politicized prosecution by leftist Fulton County, Georgia District attorney Fani Willis, accusing Trump of “racketeering” and election fraud. This case has 13 counts.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is currently hearing Trump's case against being disqualified from the ballot for “insurrection.” Trump argues he did not commit, or incite, an insurrection.
The high court will also soon decide, or defer, on the Trump appeal on his immunity claim. Either or both of these Court decisions could seriously impact Trump's legal situation
This is going to be a very interesting and volatile election year.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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