Donald Trump returned to a federal courthouse in Washington on Tuesday battling to clear one of many legal hurdles impeding his potential return to the White House.
Michelle Obama said she was “terrified” at the prospect of a Trump victory in November's election, speaking less than a week before voters in Iowa next Monday start the nominating process to select the Republican candidate.
Trump's lawyers argued to appeals judges in Washington that he was immune from prosecution on federal charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
"To authorize the prosecution of a president for official acts would open a Pandora's box from which this nation may never recover," said D. John Sauer, one of Trump's team.
He claimed that presidents could then be prosecuted for giving Congress "false information" to enter war or for authorizing drone strikes targeting US citizens abroad.
Presenting the government case, special counsel Jack Smith's team said no president enjoys absolute immunity, and should be answerable in law if he seeks to extend his term through "criminal conduct".
Mr Smith was backed by a lower court judge who ruled last month that the president is not a monarch who is above the law, and that Trump did not possess a "get-out-of-jail-free pass".
Trump is appealing that ruling, bidding to thwart Mr Smith's bid to put him on trial in March, in the middle of the Republicans' primary election voting.
State and federal cases arising from his false claims of election fraud in 2020 have done nothing to harm Trump’s support. He is crushing his rivals in Iowa and the other states that will nominate the Republican pick for November’s election.
Mrs Obama, the wife of America’s first black president, pointed to a double-standard in relation to Trump’s multiple legal battles including over the Capitol Hill riot by a mob of his supporters in January 2021.
“Other people can be indicted a bunch of times and still run for office. Black men can’t,” the former First Lady told London-born podcast host Jay Shetty. “You just learn to be good. And in the end, you benefit from that extra resilience.”
After Barack Obama reportedly warned President Biden to ramp up his stuttering re-election campaign, Mrs Obama was asked what keeps her up at nights. “What's going to happen in this next election - I am terrified about what could possibly happen, because our leaders matter,” she said.
“Who we select, who speaks for us, who holds that bully pulpit. It affects us in ways that sometimes I think people take for granted.
“The fact that people think that government - you know, ‘does it really even do anything?’ And I'm like, ‘oh my god, does government do everything for us, and we cannot take this democracy for granted’. And sometimes I worry that we do. Those are the things that keep me up.”
