He was not required to appear in court in Washington, but chose to appear in person and used the case as another fundraising opportunity to support his campaign.
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“Crook Joe is forcing me into a courtroom in our nation’s capital to defend my right to presidential immunity,” he wrote in a fundraising email asking for donations ahead of the hearing.
Throughout the hearing, the justices on the appeals court panel — two Democratic appointees and one Republican appointee — appeared highly skeptical of the Trump team's argument that presidents should be immune from impeachment because they arose from actions he took as president.
“You're saying the president can sell pardons, he can sell military secrets, he can ask SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival?” Judge Florence Pan Sawyer asked.
“He should be impeached and convicted — and quickly — before criminal trial,” Sawyer replied.
This was later exploited by Assistant Special Counsel James Pearce, representing the Attorney General's Office, who said it was chilling to think that a president could order a political assassination and then escape criminal prosecution.
He also said that it has since become clear [former president] Richard Nixon was pardoned over the Watergate scandal, where a former president could be tried for his actions in office.
“The president has a unique constitutional role, but he is not above the law,” Pierce said, as Trump listened intently and passed notes to his lawyers.
The court is expected to expedite its ruling in the case, and if Trump loses – as is widely expected – he will likely appeal to the US Supreme Court, further delaying the trial, which was supposed to begin in March.
But it's simply one of many trials he faces: In addition to this case, the 77-year-old Republican also faces a trial in New York for hush money payments to a porn star, another in Florida over classified documents and one in Florida. Georgia for allegedly trying to subvert the election results in that state.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court has also agreed to review a controversial attempt to keep him off the ballot in Colorado, while later this month a judge is expected to rule in his civil fraud trial in New York, which could end his right to do business in That country.
A protester outside the E. Barrett Prettyman US Courthouse in Washington during Trump's court appearance.credit: Bloomberg
And next Tuesday — one day after the Iowa caucus — he will face another civil libel trial against writer E. Gene Carroll, who was convicted last year of sexual assault.
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Trump, who once claimed he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I won't lose any voters,” maintains his innocence in all the cases against him.
Speaking after the hearing, he described the day as momentous, once again insisting that he was the victim of a political witch hunt and reiterating his assertion that the 2020 election was rigged.
“When they talk about a threat to democracy, that's the real threat to democracy,” Trump said.
“I did nothing wrong at all.
“I think it is very unfair for Biden to prosecute a political opponent [Department of Justice]. If you're Joe Biden, I think they feel like this is the way they're going to try to win, and that's not the way it works. There will be pandemonium in the country.
“The president should have immunity.”
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