Trump’s shock demand after winning immunity in bombshell ruling
Former US president Donald Trump has asked the judge in his historic hush money case to take action after his immunity ruling.
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Former US president Donald Trump has asked the judge in his historic hush money trial to throw out his guilty verdict in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that granted him absolute immunity for official acts committed as president.
The request, made to Judge Juan Merchan in a letter sent by Trump’s lawyers, asks for permission to file a motion to postpone Trump’s July 11 sentencing and dismiss the case, The New York Post confirmed.
Trump’s legal team is required to notify Judge Merchan in writing before any motions related to the case can be filed.
The letter is expected to be made public within hours, after which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will be given a chance to respond.
‘DANGEROUS PRECEDENT’: BIDEN REACTS
US President Joe Biden used the Supreme Court’s decision to grant rival Donald Trump partial immunity over the January 6 riots to shift focus away from his disastrous election debate performance.
Biden slammed the Supreme Court’s decision, saying its landmark ruling was a “terrible disservice to the people of this nation” that set a “dangerous precedent”.
He suggested a return by Trump to the White House would lead to abuses of power.
“The American people must decide whether Donald Trump’s assault on our democracy on January 6 makes him unfit for public office, the highest office in the land,” Biden said from the White House.
“The American people must decide if Trump’s embrace of violence to preserve his power is acceptable. Perhaps most importantly, the American people must decide if they want to entrust the president, once again, with the presidency of Donald Trump, now knowing he’ll be even more emboldened to do whatever he pleases whenever he wants to do it.
Biden said the court ruling meant there was “virtually no limits on what a president can do”. “This is a fundamentally new principle, and it’s a dangerous precedent,” he said.
“The only limits will be self-imposed by the president alone. This decision today has continued the court’s attack in recent years on a wide range of long-established legal principles in our nation. From gutting voting rights and civil rights, to taking away a woman’s right to choose, to today’s decision that undermines the rule of law of this nation,” he said.
US CAPITOL ATTACK ‘ONE OF DARKEST DAYS IN US HISTORY’
Biden then turned to the behaviour of Trump when he was president and his role in the 2021 US Capitol attack.
“Four years ago, my predecessor sent a violent mob to the US Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power. We all saw with our own eyes. We sat there and watched it happen that day. Attack on the police, the ransacking of the Capitol, a mob literally hunting down the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.
“Gallows were erected to hang the vice-president, Mike Pence. I think it’s fair to say it’s one of the darkest days in the history of America,” he said.
Biden took aim at the Supreme Court justices for the landmark ruling and suggested a return by Trump to the White House would lead to abuses of power.
“The public has a right to know the answer about what happened on January 6 before they’re asked to vote again this year,” Biden said.
“Now, because of today’s decision, that is highly, highly unlikely. It’s a terrible disservice to the people of this nation.”
TRUMP SCORES MAJOR VICTORY
It was the second major victory for Trump’s re-election campaign following Joe Biden’s presidential debate implosion.
While the US Supreme Court stopped short of declaring total immunity including unofficial acts as a private citizen, the landmark ruling effectively delays Trump’s trial on election interference charges until after the November election.
The lead-up to the 2024 election has been marked by legal and political turmoil in the US, including the imprisonment of Trump’s former senior advisor Steve Bannon on Monday to begin a four-month sentence for defying a Congressional subpoena over the US Capitol riot.
It comes as the Biden family vowed that the 90-minute debate would not define the president’s four years in the White House, even as Democratic Party insiders continued to panic amid a push to select a new candidate to face Trump.
In granting “absolute immunity” for exercising core constitutional powers and “presumptive immunity” for all remaining official acts, the Supreme Court stressed the “president is not above the law” and “not everything the President does is official”.
“Like everyone else, the President is subject to prosecution in his unofficial capacity. But unlike anyone else, the President is a branch of government, and the Constitution vests in him sweeping powers and duties,” Chief Justice John Roberts said.
“The President must therefore be immune from prosecution for an official act unless the Government can show that applying a criminal prohibition to that act would pose no ‘dangers of intrusion on the authority and functions of the Executive Branch.’”
The 6-3 decision did not rule whether or not Trump’s alleged attempts to interfere with the 2020 election were in his capacity as a private citizen. That case was sent back to a lower court to determine,
“Big win for our constitution and democracy,” Trump said on social media. “Today’s Historic Decision by the Supreme Court should end all of Crooked Joe Biden’s Witch Hunts against me”.
Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States as well as conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of the January 6, 2021 joint session of Congress held to certify Biden’s election to president. He is also charged with conspiracy to deny Americans the right to vote and to have their votes counted.
The Biden campaign said the ruling “doesn’t change the facts” of the case against Trump, who has “only grown more unhinged” since.
“Donald Trump snapped after he lost the 2020 election and encouraged a mob to overthrow the results of a free and fair election,” the Biden campaign said in a statement.
“Trump is already running for president as a convicted felon for the very same reason he sat idly by while the mob violently attacked the Capitol: he thinks he’s above the law and is willing to do anything to gain and hold onto power for himself.”
Biden returned to the White House after a weekend cloistered with family to plot his next move and allay fears that the Democratic Party is headed for a historic election defeat in four months.
First Lady Jill Biden appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine to declare they would not “let those 90 minutes define the four years he’s been president.”
“We will continue to fight,” she said, adding that President Biden ”will always do what’s best for the country.”
HOW DID CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS RULE
“Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”
HOW DID JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR DISSENT
Relying on little more than its own misguided wisdom about the need for bold and unhesitating action by the president, the court gives former President Trump all the immunity he asked for and more.”
Today’s decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency. It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law.
WHAT ACTS ARE OFFICIAL AND UNOFFICIAL
The Supreme Court did not rule which acts are official vs. unofficial, and instead sent the case back to a lower court to determine.
The Supreme Court looked at four examples of Trump’s conduct to be categorised as either unofficial or official:
Speaking to Justice Department officials following the 2020 election
Allegedly pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence to block congressional certification of the 2020 election results win
An alleged role in alternate electors to be used in the certification process
Trump’s conduct before and during the riot at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021
WHAT IS THE BROADER FALLOUT
Republican US House Speaker Mike Johnson called the ruling a “victory” for Trump and all future presidents.
“This decision is based on the obviously unique power and position of the presidency, and comports with the Constitution and common sense,” he said.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat’s former House Speaker, said the court had “gone rogue” and diminished its credibility, adding the “claim of total presidential immunity is an insult to the vision of our founders, who declared independence from a King.”
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Originally published as Trump’s shock demand after winning immunity in bombshell ruling
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