Donald Trump’s frantic bid to halt bombshell trial

America’s highest court will decide whether Donald Trump should face a criminal trial ahead of his likely rematch with Joe Biden.

America’s highest court will decide whether former US president Donald Trump should face a criminal trial over his effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

The Supreme Court confirmed on Wednesday (local time) that it would hear the claim from Mr Trump’s lawyers — which a lower court had previously shot down — that he should be immune from prosecution for his actions in the White House.

Former US president Donald Trump kisses the US flag as he arrives to speak during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Picture: AFP

Arguments in the case have been scheduled for the week of April 22 while proceedings in the trial itself will remain frozen, heightening the uncertainty over whether a jury will consider the explosive charges against Mr Trump before his expected election rematch with US President Joe Biden in November.

It came after Mr Trump launched a last-ditch bid earlier this month to stop the bombshell election interference trial going ahead before a likely rematch against Joe Biden this November.

The former president’s sweeping claim of immunity over his actions in the White House – including his allegedly criminal effort to overturn his 2020 defeat – was shut down last week by the US Court of Appeals.

Former US president and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump attends a Get Out the Vote Rally in Conway, South Carolina. Picture: AFP

But Mr Trump’s lawyers filed an emergency appeal on Monday (local time) to the Supreme Court, forcing the nation’s highest court to once again wade into this year’s presidential election as the former president draws closer to winning the Republican nomination.

“President Trump’s claim that presidents have absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for their official acts presents a novel, complex and momentous question that warrants careful consideration on appeal,” the application said.

The Supreme Court must now decide between several options that will determine when Mr Trump goes on trial over accusations that he tried to subvert the will of voters by attempting to cling to power after Mr Biden defeated him, culminating in the deadly January 6 riot.

The court could deny a stay in the case, essentially ignoring the former president’s appeal and enabling the trial to proceed, potentially within weeks.

Donald Trump’s lawyers have filed an emergency appeal. Picture: AFP

Trump supporters at the rally in Conway, South Carolina. Picture: AFP

It could allow a brief stay and then deny Mr Trump’s petition of review, rejecting his bid for immunity and also allowing the trial to go ahead well before November.

The court could fast-track Mr Trump’s appeal and hear it in full in the coming weeks, as it chose to do when the former president’s lawyers challenged a Colorado court’s call to ban him from the ballot because he allegedly engaged in an insurrection after the 2020 election.

The final option would involve the Supreme Court hearing the case on its regular schedule, meaning the criminal trial would have almost no chance of starting this year.

Last week, a three-judge panel from the Court of Appeals rejected Mr Trump’s immunity claim, a major blow in his battle to avoid conviction in an unprecedented four criminal cases totalling 91 charges.

“For the purpose of this criminal case, former president Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defences of any other criminal defendant,” the panel determined.

In a statement, Mr Trump’s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said: “If immunity is not granted to a president, every future president who leaves office will be immediately indicted by the opposing party.”

“Without complete immunity, a president of the United States would not be able to properly function,” he added.

Mr Trump’s lawyers have argued that a president should be immune from prosecution even if they directed the US military to assassinate a political opponent.

TRUMP’S EMPHATIC COURT DEFEAT

A US court last week emphatically shut down Mr Trump’s sweeping claim of immunity over his allegedly criminal effort to stay in power after losing the 2020 election, paving the way for the former president to be put on trial.

In a bid to clear the former president, his lawyers had gone so far as to suggest that a president would be immune from prosecution even if they directed the US military to assassinate a political opponent.

Donald Trump is the likely Republican candidate to face Joe Biden in this year’s presidential election. Picture: Patrick T. Fallon (AFP)

Their claim was unanimously rejected by a three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals last Tuesday (local time), marking a major defeat for Mr Trump in his battle to avoid conviction in an unprecedented four criminal cases totalling 91 charges.

“For the purpose of this criminal case, former president Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defences of any other criminal defendant,” the panel determined.

“Any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as president no longer protects him against this prosecution.”

On the eve of the verdict, Mr Trump ranted in an all-caps post on his social media platform that “if immunity is not granted to a president, every president that leaves office will be immediately indicted by the opposing party”.

“Without complete immunity, a president of the United States would not be able to function properly!” he said.

The appeals court – composed of two judges appointed by Democrats and one Republican appointee – disagreed, answering what had been a legally untested question of whether a president could be prosecuted after leaving the White House for their actions while in power.

Mr Trump launched his immunity fight over the allegations in the federal indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith, who accused him of trying to subvert the will of voters in his attempts to cling to power after Mr Biden defeated him in 2020, culminating in his supporters invading the US Capitol in a deadly riot on January 6, 2021.