Tag: Presidential Immunity

Trump Attorneys Cite Hunter Biden Pardon in Move to Clear Cases

The Center Square
Donald Trump

by Brett Rowland   Attorneys for President-elect Donald Trump are working to clear out pending criminal cases before he takes office in January. Federal prosecutors have already moved to end two criminal cases against Trump – the election interference case in Washington D.C. and the classified documents case in Florida. That leaves the hush money case in New York and the election interference charges in Georgia. This week, Trump’s defense team asked New York Judge Juan Merchan to dismiss his conviction. In an 80-page dismissal motion, Trump’s team said prosecutors should never have filed charges. The motion cited President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter, in which the president said his son was unfairly targeted for political reasons. Trump has repeatedly said the criminal cases against him were coordinated by his political opponents. His attorneys have continued those assertions in court motions. “This case should never have been brought, particularly during a period when DA Bragg’s failure to protect this City from pervasive violent crime frightens, threatens, and harms New Yorkers on a daily basis,” Trump’s defense attorneys wrote. “And this case would never have been brought were it not for President Trump’s political views, the transformative national movement…

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Legal Expert Lays Out Why Trump’s Legal Cases Will Not Return After He Leave Office in Four Years

Daily Caller News Foundation
Elie Honig, CNN clip

by Nicole Silverio   CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said Tuesday that the dismissed legal cases against President-elect Donald Trump will not return once he leaves office in January 2029. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request Monday to dismiss the election subversion case he brought against President-elect Donald Trump to align with the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) precedent of not prosecuting a sitting president. Honig said while the case was dismissed without prejudice, there are many strategies the Trump administration can adopt in order to ensure the case is never revived. “Yes, technically the cases were dismissed without prejudice, which means technically someone could come back in 4 years and reinstitute these charges. But that’s correct in the same sense that the New York Jets could technically make it to the Super Bowl this year,” Honig said. “It’s not mathematically eliminated. That’s not gonna happen for a lot of reasons. First of all, four years from now is an eternity. Whoever the next president is in 2029, the next attorney general is gonna have no appetite in bringing this case back and you’re right, Jim [Acosta], there are moves Donald Trump’s DOJ could make. They can go back…

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Legal Expert Braden Boucek Details How New York Judge Could Still Sentence Trump to Prison This Month

Kaitlin Housler

Braden Boucek, vice president of Litigation for Southeastern Legal Foundation, explained the different avenues New York Judge Juan Merchan can pursue on Tuesday when he decides whether President-elect Donald Trump’s criminal conviction in the Stormy Daniels hush money case should be overturned in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.

In July, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. United States that Trump is immune from federal prosecution for official acts he took while in office.

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Jack Smith Requests Delay in Trump Case to Assess Impact of Supreme Court’s Presidential Immunity Ruling

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Special counsel Jack Smith requested a delay Thursday night in former president Donald Trump’s election interference case.

Prosecutors wrote in a filing that the government is still assessing the impact of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling and asked for the timeline to be pushed back several weeks. Judge Tanya Chutkan previously scheduled a hearing for Aug. 16, but Smith requested permission to instead file a proposed schedule for pretrial proceedings by the end of the month, effectively delaying any action until September.

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Judge Chutkan Faces Long Road to Get Trump Case Back on Track After Presidential Immunity Ruling

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Judge Chutkan with Donald Trump in courtroom (composite image)

District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan will face challenges getting a Trump case that’s unlikely to proceed to trial before the election — or possibly ever — back on track.

After former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity appeal brought on a months-long delay in the election interference case prosecuted by special counsel Jack Smith, the case finally returned to Chutkan on Friday. Though she wasted no time scheduling a hearing for August 16 and asking both parties to submit a schedule for pretrial proceedings by August 9, legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation that efforts to advance the case will meet continued challenges.

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Christy Kelly: Supreme Court Ruling Will Force NY Judge in Trump’s Hush Money Case to Acknowledge He Erred in Allowing Prosecution to Present Hope Hicks Testimony

Kaitlin Housler

Christy Kelly, reporter at The Arizona Sun Times, said the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling on Monday in Trump v. United States that former President Donald Trump is immune from federal prosecution for official acts he took while in office may have a major impact on the former president’s conviction in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.

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Legal Analyst Christy Kelly Breaks Down SCOTUS Ruling on Presidential Immunity and How It May Affect Lawfare Against Former President Trump

Kaitlin Housler
Trump SCOTUS

Christy Kelly, reporter at The Arizona Sun Times, said the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling on Monday in Trump v. United States that former President Donald Trump is immune from federal prosecution for official acts he took while in office is certain to affect current and past litigation surrounding the former president.

However, the nation’s highest court also ruled that there is no immunity for unofficial acts.

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Biden: Supreme Court Ruling on Presidential Immunity ‘Dangerous Precedent’

The Center Square
Joe Biden

President Joe Biden Monday night said the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the president has “absolute immunity” when acting in his core constitutional duties is “a dangerous precedent” that “undermines the rule of law of this nation.”

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision ruled that the “president’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute. As for his remaining official actions, he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity.”

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Trump, Censorship and Abortion: The Final Big Rulings SCOTUS Is Expected to Release This Week

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Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court is expected to release all of its remaining decisions by the end of the week.

Opinions coming down the line include decisions on former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity appeal, an abortion case from Idaho and a consequential challenge to the Biden administration’s censorship efforts. The next opinion day is scheduled for Wednesday.

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Trump Files Motions to Dismiss Georgia Election Case Citing Presidential Immunity, Double Jeopardy, Prior Election Contests

Tom Pappert

Former President Donald Trump made three new legal filings in Georgia on Monday, each requesting on different grounds for Fulton County Superior Court Judge to dismiss the case brought against him by District Attorney Fani Willis (D). In the filings, Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow cites alleged due process and double jeopardy violations, as well as presidential immunity granted by the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“From 1789 to 2023, no President ever faced criminal prosecution for acts committed while in office,” Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow notes in his 67-page filing requesting the case be dismissed by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee due to presidential immunity. “The indictment in this case charges President Trump for acts that lie at the heart of his official responsibilities as President. The indictment is barred by presidential immunity and should be dismissed with prejudice.”

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