Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks after meeting with members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at their headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously ruled on Tuesday that Donald Trump is not immune from criminal indictment in Washington, D.C., where he faces four felony charges alleging he criminally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The ruling was expected after the former president’s lawyer withered under questioning during oral arguments before just three judges on the appellate panel. With Tuesday’s ruling from the appeals court, the panel has now asked that the case go back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C. by Feb. 13. unless Trump, as it is expected, appeals directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trump already has a date with the Supreme Court this week on a separate matter — oral arguments weighing his disqualification from the presidential ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause kick off Thursday morning.
In the meantime, the 57-page per curiam ruling straightaway put Trump into a category of citizen first, former president second:
“For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all the defenses of of any other criminal defendant. But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as president no longer protects him against this prosecution,” the ruling states.
This story is developing.
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