Lawyers say ā€˜allegedly improperā€™ behavior by president falls within ā€˜outer perimeterā€™ of duties and is protected from prosecution

Lawyers for Donald Trump have urged a federal judge to dismiss the criminal case over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, advancing a sweeping interpretation of executive power that contends that former presidents are immune from prosecution for conduct related to their duties while in office.

The request to throw out the indictment, handed up earlier this year by a federal grand jury in Washington, amounts to the most consequential court filing in the case to date and is almost certain to precipitate a legal battle that could end up before the US supreme court.

In their 52-page submission to the presiding US district judge, Tanya Chutkan, Trumpā€™s lawyers essentially argued that Trump enjoyed absolute immunity from criminal prosecution because the charged conduct fell within the so-called ā€œouter perimeterā€ of his duties as president.

The filing contended that all of Trumpā€™s attempts to reverse his 2020 election defeat in the indictment, from pressuring his vice-president, Mike Pence, to stop the congressional certification to organizing fake slates of electors, were in his capacity as president and therefore protected.

Whether Trumpā€™s motion to dismiss succeeds remains uncertain: it raises novel legal issues, such as whether the outer perimeter test applies to criminal cases, and whether Trumpā€™s charged conduct even falls within a presidentā€™s duties.

    • Jaysyn@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Trump could have gotten away, but the moment he decided to not give back the defense docs the Government was asking for is the moment he decided to that he was going to die in Federal custody.

      The DoJ does not spend this much time & effort on a criminal case to drop it, at least I canā€™t think of a single example of them doing so.