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SCEPTICAL RESPONSE
Trump’s lawyer D John Sauer told a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that prosecuting former presidents “would open a Pandora’s Box” from which that nation may never recover.
He faced a sceptical reception.
“You’re saying a president could sell pardons, could sell military secrets, could tell SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival?” Judge Florence Pan asked him.
Sauer responded that if that was part of a president’s official duties, he would have to first be impeached and removed from office by Congress before he could be prosecuted. Trump was impeached twice but the Senate failed to convict him.
Trump had announced plans to attend the hearing, where he would not be given a chance to speak, and his motorcade was spotted entering the building through an underground garage on Tuesday morning.
Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the prosecution, has argued that granting such a sweeping legal shield would give future presidents license to commit crimes such as accepting bribes or directing the FBI to plant evidence on political opponents.
Smith has argued Trump was acting as a candidate, not a president, when he pressured officials to overturn the election results and encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.
Both the legal outcome and timing of the appeals court’s ruling will play a pivotal role in determining whether Trump faces trial ahead of the Nov 5, 2024, election.
Smith has accused Trump of a multi-pronged conspiracy to hinder the counting and certification of his 2020 defeat, culminating in the Jan 6 attack. Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges including defrauding the government and obstructing Congress.
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