Special counsel says Trump's immunity “threatens to undermine democracy.”

Special prosecutor Jack Smith appeared on Saturday A letter accompanying his arguments against the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, which he claims is protected by presidential immunity Inside Federal case against him He clearly lost to Joe Biden for trying to ignore the outcome of the 2020 presidential elections.

According to Trump, such immunity exempts him from criminal liability for any crimes committed while he was president, so he cannot be prosecuted in a federal case for trying to overturn the presidential election, for which he faces four felony charges.

In a more than 80-page brief submitted to the federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Smith explains, “Separation of powers principles, constitutional text, history and precedent make clear that a former president can be prosecuted for criminal acts committed while in office.”

For Smith, Trump's allegation is that the presidency of the United States has carte blanche to commit crimes and the only way to impeach him is if he has previously been convicted by the Senate. “Threatens to undermine democracy” as it “empowers future presidents to commit crimes to stay in office.”.

“The Founding Fathers had no such intention and would never have tolerated such a decision,” Smith said, adding that Trump's claims “are not supported by our constitutional tradition and, if accepted, would harm the fundamental principle of equality before the law.”

Smith described the charges against Trump in the case as “significant” from the former president's illegal actions “to stay in power despite losing the election.”

The special counsel warns that Trump's claimed immunity gives carte blanche to “future presidents to commit crimes to stay in office.” “The Founding Fathers had no such intention and would never have tolerated such a decision,” Smith added.

Federal district judge handling election interference case against Trump Tanya SudkhanIt ruled earlier this month that a claim by Trump's lawyers for presidential immunity did not protect him from the criminal charges against him.

Sudcon said in his December 8 judgment The presidency does not confer upon its holder the “divine right of kings to avoid the same criminal liability as governing their fellow citizens.”.

“Regardless of what immunity a sitting president gets, there's only one chief executive in the United States at a time, and that position doesn't grant a life sentence,” Sutgen added.

According to the former president's lawyers, constitutional and other immunity principles protect their client from criminal prosecution “unless he is first indicted and convicted by the Senate.”

“A president cannot face criminal charges based on conduct acquitted by the Senate,” Trump's lawyers added in a brief filed with the appeals court last week.

Smith's brief explains that argument by explaining that the separation of powers doctrine provides immunity to former presidents against civil liability for conduct taken in the course of office. It does not absolve them of criminal responsibility for violating federal criminal laws.

“The post-presidential burden of criminal responsibility has little impact on the incumbent's duties and outweighs the public interest in upholding the rule of law through federal prosecution,” Smith said.

Abbreviation for Special Prosecutor is Criminal Division or Accusation The Constitution “does not make a conviction in a Senate trial a precursor to a criminal prosecution, which serves a distinct function from impeachment and impeachment.”

A panel of three federal appeals judges: Karen Henderson, nominated by George HW Bush, and J. Michael Childs and Florence Pan are expected to hear the parties' oral arguments from January 9 to November 9.