The legal team representing former President Donald Trump is relying on a distinctive legal strategy in order to protect him from potential prosecution by special counsel Jack Smith on allegations connected to the disturbance that occurred at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.
Donald Trump has asserted his entitlement to complete protection from legal prosecution in charges brought against him by Smith. However, this assertion has been dismissed by two federal judges in four cases that were filed in the same court as Trump’s case involving the subversion of the election in Washington, D.C.
The legal actions undertaken by the ex-president coincide with a lawsuit initiated against him by James Blassingame, a U.S. Capitol Police officer, who is pursuing reparation for the injuries sustained during the incident. The civil and criminal cases against Trump exhibit contrasting potential results, namely monetary damages and jail time, respectively. Nonetheless, a common underlying topic unifies them: the question of whether Trump possesses immunity from prosecution for his presidential activities.
The legal team representing President Trump intends to imminently address the topic of executive immunity in criminal court. According to a knowledgeable source, they believe that the ongoing civil appeal is the most favorable opportunity for the Supreme Court to render a decision on this issue.
“If we win, the government is going to appeal. If the government wins, we will appeal,” the person said. “…It’s really a unique issue because it goes to whether or not a court would literally have jurisdiction over a case or hear the case.”
According to the source, if the gamble proves successful, it has the potential to impede or even obstruct the progress of the criminal case. According to The Messenger, the possibility of a decision in Blassingame before the D.C. Circuit has heightened the stakes, prompting the matter to be escalated to the Supreme Court.
Blassingame’s lawsuit was among the three that U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta dismissed from Trump’s case in February 2022 due to immunity.
“After careful consideration, the court concludes that, on the facts alleged, absolute immunity does not shield President Trump from suit,” Mehta wrote in February 2022.
In a different decision, Senior U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan came to a similar conclusion and permitted the prosecution of a civil rights organization against Trump under the Ku Klux Klan Act, the legal equivalent of the Reconstruction-era civil rights statute that is the subject of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment.
Immunity “does not protect acts that Former President Trump undertook outside the outer perimeter of his official duties,” Sullivan found months later in November.
The source claims that Trump’s legal team will contend that since Blassingame’s lawsuit provides the closest precedent to appellate review, the criminal case should not move forward until it is concluded.
“In addition in the civil case, and we believe it will hold true in the criminal case, all proceedings need to be stayed while this review goes on because it involves an immunity question,” the person familiar with Trump’s legal strategy said.
During a Thursday hearing, the federal judge supervising the case involving confidential papers against former President Donald Trump chastised the prosecutors led by special counsel Jack Smith over a possible conflict of interest involving one of their lawyers.
According to The New York Times, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon “postponed a hearing on whether one of Trump’s co-defendants understood that his lawyer might have conflicts of interest” and chastised the prosecution for “wasting” time.
“I do want to admonish the government for frankly wasting the court’s time,” Cannon of the Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Fla., told David Harbach, a prosecutor working with the special counsel Jack Smith on the case.
I’ll have more on this soon but Jack Smith’s team got slapped HARD today by Judge Cannon in classified docs case. Smith is trying to disqualify defense counsel per “Garcia” hearing. They tried to change their argument during proceedings today. She was having none of it. Hero. pic.twitter.com/drPlNTeD1i
— Julie Kelly (@julie_kelly2) October 13, 2023
The Times also explained:
At issue was a request by Mr. Smith’s team that Judge Cannon hold a hearing to make sure that Mr. Trump’s co-defendants — both of whom are employed by him — understood that their lawyers, who are being paid by a political action committee affiliated with the former president and who have represented witnesses in the case, had possible conflicts.
In the case of one co-defendant, Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s private club and residence, the hearing proceeded largely without incident. Mr. De Oliveira’s lawyer, John Irving, had represented three witnesses in the case.
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