Donald Trump is once again attempting to claim presidential immunity to avoid prosecution. The former president is seeking to have the criminal charges brought against him by Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis in the Georgia election conspiracy case tossed, per a new Monday filing. “The indictment in this case charges President Trump for acts that lie at the heart of his official responsibilities as President. The indictment is barred by presidential immunity and should be dismissed with prejudice,” the motion reads. The filing serves as another iteration of the argument repeatedly pushed by Trump and his legal team, which is that he was acting as president when he reportedly subverted the 2020 election and is therefore protected. It claims that the acts Willis lays out in her indictment “lie squarely within the ‘outer perimeter’ of the President's official duties, adding that “Organizing slates of electors in furtherance of that effort to have Congress exercise its responsibilities falls within the President’s official duties as well."
Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis rejected the argument. "Trump was acting as a candidate and not as president. Despite using the trappings of his office to browbeat officials, nothing that Trump has been indicted for in Georgia constituted an official presidential act. Engaging in racketeering activity is not shielded by Article II," he wrote on X/Twitter. "The president of the United States does not have any constitutional prerogative to engineer an electoral outcome."
Trump in another filing on Monday argued that he can't be prosecuted because he was already impeached and acquitted by Congress over his role on Jan. 6. Kreis argued that Trump's argument is "so meritless it borders on the comical." Impeachment "is a political question. What constitutes an impeachable offense is essentially a political matter. So, too, is the judgment. And the Constitution's text reinforces the idea that a conviction is not a criminal conviction. So, too, it follow an acquittal," Kreis explained. Since Trump was never indicted in federal court over the Georgia meddling, the Fulton case cannot constitute double jeopardy, he wrote. "To be clear, even Jack Smith's case could not preempt the Fulton County case if someone were to read them as functionally identical prosecutions," he added.
