Trump not immune to prosecution as former president: US court

Washington: A US appeals court ruled on Tuesday that former president Donald Trump is not immune from prosecution just because he held the President's office before. The court added that Trump could face prosecution on charges of attempted overturning the 2020 elections, Agence France-Presse reported. According to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruling, Trump's claim that he was immune from criminal liability for actions he took as President has no support of precedent, history or text and structure of the US Constitution. The decision marks the second time in as many months that judges have spurned 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 US Capitol.

But it also sets the stage for additional appeals from the Republican ex-president that could reach the US Supreme Court. The trial was originally set for March, but it was postponed last week, and the judge didn't immediately set a new date, PTI reports.

In its order, the court said, "We conclude that the interest in criminal accountability, held by both the public and the Executive Branch, outweighs the potential risks of chilling Presidential action and permitting vexatious litigation."

The appeals court took centre stage in the immunity dispute after the Supreme Court last month said it was at least temporarily staying out of it, rejecting a request from special counsel Jack Smith to take up the matter quickly and issue a speedy ruling.

The legally untested question before the court was whether former presidents can be prosecuted after they leave office for actions taken in the White House related to their official duties.

The Supreme Court has held that presidents are immune from civil liability for official acts, and Trump's lawyers have for months argued that that protection should be extended to criminal prosecution as well.

They said the actions Trump was accused of in his failed bid to cling to power after he lost the 2020 election to Biden, including badgering his vice president to refuse to certify the results of the election, all fell within the "outer perimeters" of a president's official acts.