Trump, the Republican front-runner for the 2024 US presidential election, attended a hearing held under tight security conditions at an appeals court in Washington DC on January 9, according to AFP. This is related to the proceedings surrounding the US Justice Department 's accusation that Trump conspired to overturn the results of the presidential election.
During the hearing, which lasted more than an hour, the three-judge panel expressed skepticism about the arguments presented by Trump's lawyer John Sauer. Sauer said that, as a former White House owner, Trump should be immune from prosecution for allegedly conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the US.
"Are you saying that a president can sell pardons, can sell military secrets, can tell SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political opponent?" Judge Florence Pan asked Sauer.
Mr. Trump appeared in court in Washington DC on January 9.
Speaking to reporters later, Mr Trump accused Democrats and President Joe Biden, who could be his "re-election" opponent in November, of conducting a "very unfair" and politically motivated prosecution.
"They feel like this is the way they're going to try and win... And that's not the way it's going to work. The country is going to be in chaos," AFP quoted Mr Trump as saying. The former president also warned that if the proceedings continued, it would open "Pandora's box".
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Before the hearing, Mr. Trump threatened that he could prosecute Mr. Biden if he defeated the incumbent president in the election scheduled for November 5.
"If I am not immune, then crooked Joe Biden is not immune... Joe is eligible for prosecution," Trump said in a video posted on social media, according to Reuters.
Trump is scheduled to appear in court on March 4 in a federal case related to the riots that occurred at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. According to the indictment, Trump is accused of inciting his supporters to storm the legislature during the certification of the 2020 election results. Trump lost that year's race to Biden but has repeatedly claimed that widespread voter fraud was the reason for his defeat.
Sauer told the justices that a president can only be prosecuted for actions taken while in office if he is first impeached and convicted by Congress. Trump was impeached twice while in office by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives (2017-2021), but was acquitted both times thanks to the Republican majority in the Senate.
“Allowing a president to be prosecuted for his public actions would open a Pandora’s box from which the nation may never recover,” Sauer argued.
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"The notion that presidential immunity does not exist is a shocking notion... It would, for example, allow for the prosecution of President Biden in the West Texas judicial district after he leaves office for border mismanagement," Trump's lawyer said.
Justice Department attorney James Pearce told the panel on January 9 that the case revealed the unprecedented nature of Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and that granting him immunity for those actions would give future presidents a license to commit crimes.
"The president has a constitutional role that no one else has, but he is not above the law," Reuters quoted Mr. Pearce as saying during the hearing.
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