DOJ To Supreme Court: No, Trump’s Coup Attempt Is Not Immune From Prosecution

WASHINGTON ― Federal prosecutors Monday urged the nation’s high court to reject Donald Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution for his coup attempt because it was done while he was president.

“The Constitution does not give a president the power to conspire to defraud the United States in the certification of presidential-election results, obstruct proceedings for doing so, or deprive voters of the effect of their votes,” Special Counsel Jack Smith wrote in a 66-page brief that blistered Trump’s claims that he was merely doing his presidential duties on Jan. 6, 2021.

“The severity, range, and democracy-damaging nature of the alleged crimes are unique in American history. Other than former President Nixon, whose pardon precluded criminal prosecution, petitioner can point to no former president alleged to have engaged in remotely similar conduct,” Smith wrote.

Smith’s argument has previously carried the day both before trial judge Tanya Chutkan and a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

If the Supreme Court agrees that Trump is criminally liable for his actions leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump could go trial on those charges before the November election, in which Trump is again the presumptive Republican Party nominee.

Trump stands charged with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing an official proceeding, and conspiring to deprive millions of Americans of the right to have their votes counted. The four-count indictment lays out how Trump’s repeated lies about the 2020 election having been “stolen” from him and the assault on the Capitol by a mob of his followers were a part of his scheme to remain in