Like former President Donald Trump is awaiting a federal appeals court decision on his broad claim of presidential immunityhe said early Thursday morning that the president of the United States “must have full and complete presidential immunity.”
“The President of the United States must have absolute immunity, without which it is impossible for him to function properly,” Trump said in a lengthy post on Truth Social in all caps. “Any mistake, even a well-intentioned one, will almost certainly be met with recrimination by the other side at the end of the term. Even ‘crossing the line’ incidents must fall under full immunity or it will be years of trauma trying to define a good thing.” . bad.”
“Sometimes you just have to live with ‘great but a little imperfect,'” Trump added. “All presidents must have full and complete presidential immunity, or the power and discretion of the president of the United States will be taken away and gone forever. I hope this is an easy decision. God bless the Supreme Court!”
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is expected to rule soon on a case filed by Trump to dismiss a federal election interference lawsuit against him. He has argued that he should be protected from prosecution because his efforts to cancel the 2020 elections fell within his official duties as president.
Judges heard oral arguments on the immunity issue earlier this month, and they were skeptical of the former president’s stance.
The court could issue a ruling that definitively resolves the immunity issue, allowing the election interference trial scheduled to begin on March 4 to move forward.
Judges can also make narrower decisions that may leave some issues unresolved. The court could also simply rule that Trump does not have the right to appeal at this stage of the trial.
The case is likely to reach the Supreme Court bypassed the immunity issue in December.
The former president claimed that the effort to annul the results of the 2020 presidential election and his participation in the January 6, 2021 uprising were part of his presidential duties. He said he investigated election fraud as president at the time, even though there was no evidence of widespread fraud.
Trump’s Truth Social post came after he sat in a New York courtroom on Wednesday to determine damages in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against him.
Lawrence O’Donnell contributed.