A Federal Appeals Court had ruled that the Former US President, Donald Trump has no immunity from prosecution as a Former President and can be tried on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. The Court delivered the landmark ruling on Tuesday, 6th February 2024.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit stated that Trump’s claim that he enjoys “absolute immunity” from criminal liability for actions he took while in the White House is “unsupported by precedent, history or the text and structure of the Constitution.”

The ruling serves as a major legal setback for Trump, 77, who is the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican Presidential nomination.

A spokesman for the former Republican President said he would appeal “to guard the Presidency and the Constitution.”

“If immunity is not granted to a President, every future President who leaves office will be immediately indicted by the opposing party,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said.

“Without complete immunity, a President of the United States would not be able to properly function!”

The appeals court had earlier put the immunity ruling on hold until Monday, 12th February 2024 to allow Trump to appeal to the US Supreme Court, which can decide whether to take the case or allow the appeals court ruling to stand.

Trump had been set to go on trial in Washington on March 4, 2023, on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden but the District Judge overseeing the case was forced to postpone the start of the trial pending a ruling on the immunity issue by the Appeals Court.

District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is to preside over Trump’s election interference trial, rejected Trump’s immunity claim in December 2023 and the Judges who heard his appeal last month were also unconvinced by his arguments.

“For this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendants,” the three Appellate Court Judges said in their unanimous ruling.”

“But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution,” they said.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought the election conspiracy case against Trump, the first former US President to face criminal indictment, had been trying to keep the March start date for the trial on track.

Lawyers for the Former President have sought repeatedly to delay it until after the November Presidential election when Trump could potentially have all of the Federal cases against him dropped if he wins reelection.

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