{"id":117582,"date":"2024-04-04T08:33:55","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T13:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=117582"},"modified":"2024-04-04T08:33:55","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T13:33:55","slug":"does-donald-trump-have-presidential-immunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2024\/04\/04\/does-donald-trump-have-presidential-immunity\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Donald Trump have presidential immunity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"VOA \u2014 NEW ORLEANS \u2014 <\/span>The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments this month about presidential immunity and whether former President Donald Trump can be tried on charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

The high court\u2019s decision will determine how some of the presumptive GOP nominee\u2019s legal cases advance in an election year where he is facing 91 felony charges across four trials. They include the willful retention of national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump is trying to show that a U.S. president is immune from criminal prosecution while acting in an official capacity,\u201d University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock told VOA.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think, at the heart of this matter, is just how broadly Trump and his lawyers define \u2018official capacity,\u2019\u201d Bullock explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are defining it very broadly at the moment. Trump says a president should be completely immune while president, but the three-judge circuit panel that ruled against him posed the question: \u2018Well, what if the president hired a hitman to take out one of their rivals? Is that in an official capacity, and are they immune from prosecution then, as well?\u2019 I think we\u2019d all say, of course not!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"FILE<\/div>\n<\/div>
FILE – Supporters of President Donald Trump storm the Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Many Republicans continue to back Trump<\/strong><\/p>\n

This month\u2019s case before the Supreme Court, which includes three Trump appointees, involves federal charges that Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election by spreading false information about voter fraud and by pressing Vice President Mike Pence to reject legitimate results when they were presented to Congress.<\/p>\n

That congressional certification of electoral votes on January 6, 2021, was disrupted by Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol. For that attack, Trump is facing a charge of obstructing an official proceeding.<\/p>\n

The former president argues he was acting in an official capacity at the time, and therefore cannot be charged. In its filing to the Supreme Court, Trump\u2019s team wrote, \u201cThe president cannot function, and the presidency itself cannot retain its vital independence, if the president faces criminal prosecution for official acts once he leaves office.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA denial of criminal immunity would incapacitate every future president with de facto blackmail and extortion while in office,\u201d the filing continues, \u201cand condemn him to years of post-office trauma at the hands of political opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Politico Magazine\/Ipsos poll last month found that 70% of voters \u2014 including nearly half of Republicans \u2014 reject Trump\u2019s argument that presidents should be immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office.<\/p>\n

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\"FILE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
SEE ALSO:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Trump Urges US Supreme Court to Endorse ‘Absolute Immunity’ for Ex-Presidents<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Republican voter Jeff Williams from Valparaiso, Indiana, believes charges against Trump show he is being unfairly targeted by Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks to me like these are all cases of Democrat-affiliated prosecutors in Democratic-leaning districts hoping for Democratic-slanted juries that will vote against Trump simply because they don\u2019t like him,\u201d Williams told VOA.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I think a president should have total immunity from the law? No way,\u201d Williams said. \u201cBut have I seen any evidence that suggests President Trump is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt? Absolutely not. This feels like a witch hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHalf of the country is going to have to justify voting for a criminal this year!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe this is the situation we find ourselves in,\u201d said Democratic voter Deborah Theobald of Woodstock, Georgia. \u201cHalf of the country is going to have to justify voting for a criminal this year!\u201d<\/p>\n

Fifty-five percent of Americans responding to a Reuters\/Ipsos poll say they would not vote for Donald Trump if he was convicted of a felony by a jury, while 58% said they would not cast their ballot for the former president if he was currently serving time in prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a person has committed a crime while in office, and even a serious crime before office, then I think they should be prosecuted just as any other American would be,\u201d said Rebecca Urrutia, a Connecticut mother who voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who says that a president should have immunity from a prosecuted crime doesn\u2019t stand for the Constitution or our country,\u201d she said. \u201cThe president is a citizen and servant of our country, not a king or emperor, and if you break the law, I can\u2019t vote for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"FILE<\/div>\n<\/div>
FILE – Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Impacting the coming election<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a turning point for the U.S. legal system and a pivotal political moment for Trump, says Robert Collins, a Dillard University professor of urban studies and public policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolling has shown that whether he is convicted or not has huge implications for the 2024 presidential election,\u201d Collins told VOA. \u201cBut, outside of how these cases are ruled, the longer they go on, the more likely Trump avoids a guilty ruling in advance of Election Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Independent voters are a pivotal group in swing states, with more than one-third telling a Politico Magazine\/Ipsos poll that they are less likely to support Trump if he is convicted.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if a conviction doesn\u2019t come in time for the election \u2014 or too close to the election for voters to change their mind \u2014 then Republican voters might stick with him,\u201d Collins said. \u201cAnd, if he wins the election, and is convicted afterwards, then he\u2019ll make the case that as the sitting president, he\u2019s able to pardon himself. It\u2019s a dangerous situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melbourne, Florida voter Jillian Dani backed Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 and says the results of his criminal cases will have a big impact on how she votes in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn one hand, I wouldn\u2019t vote for a felon,\u201d Dani told VOA. \u201cBut on the other hand, I\u2019m worried this is a witch hunt against someone the Democratic Party fears. I believe Clinton and Biden were criminals, too, but they weren\u2019t convicted. If Trump isn\u2019t convicted either, then why should he be treated differently?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VOA \u2014 NEW ORLEANS \u2014 The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments this month about presidential immunity and whether former President Donald Trump can be tried on charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The high court\u2019s decision will determine how some of the presumptive GOP nominee\u2019s legal cases advance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latests"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117582"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117585,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117582\/revisions\/117585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}