The former commander-in-chief argued Monday that he is immune to prosecution for actions he took while president.
Former President Donald Trump on Jan. 8 filed several motions to dismiss his election case in Fulton County, Georgia, where he and more than a dozen others face state charges over their challenge of the 2020 election results.
The former president’s legal team argued in one filing that as president, he was legally entitled to immunity from prosecution. The arguments are similar to ones he made in a separate case in Washington, where he was indicted by special counsel Jack Smith on federal charges relating to his activity after the 2020 election.
His lawyers have argued that he was working in his official capacity as president when he moved to investigate what he described as election fraud following the election.
“The indictment in this case charges President Trump for acts that lie at the heart of his official responsibilities as President,“ President Trump’s lawyers wrote in the Georgia case. ”The indictment is barred by presidential immunity and should be dismissed with prejudice.”
The “historical practice over 234 years” in the United States has reaffirmed that the capacity to charge a current or former president “does not exist,” his legal team, led by attorney Steve Sadow, argued. “Such immunity is particularly appropriate for the President because the Presidency involves especially sensitive duties, requires bold and unhesitating action, and would be crippled by the threat of politically motivated prosecutions,” they wrote.
Any communication between the former president and state officials in connection to the 2020 election fell within his “official duties” as president, they added.
“Making statements to the public on matters of national concern—especially matters involving core federal interests, such as the administration of a federal election—lies in the heartland of the President’s historic role and responsibility,” his attorneys wrote.
His lawyers argued in separate motions that the case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, should be dismissed on due process administrative grounds and that it should be scrapped based on the Constitution’s 5th Amendment, which includes a clause that a defendant cannot be charged twice with the same crime.
