In a recent legal filing, special counsel Jack Smith firmly asserted that former President Donald Trump is not exempt from the law.
Smith’s response comes in opposition to Trump’s attempt to dismiss criminal charges related to alleged election interference, wherein Trump argued for presidential immunity. This move had been compared by some to an attempt to grant presidents unchecked power akin to monarchs.
Smith’s newly released filing unequivocally states that Trump is not entitled to unique privileges that set him apart from the rest of the American populace, consisting of more than 330 million individuals, including members of Congress, federal judges, and ordinary citizens.
According to a report by Rawstory on Friday, October 19, 2023, Smith argued, “None of the sources cited by the defendant in his motion—the Constitution’s text and structure, historical precedent, or Supreme Court decisions—support the absolute immunity he seeks to establish for himself.”
Furthermore, Smith pointed out that Trump’s efforts to equate his actions, which sought to overturn an election he had lost, with iconic presidential addresses such as Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and George Washington’s Farewell Address, are misguided.
Smith argued that such comparisons are not valid, and instead, a more fitting parallel is drawn to judges who, like former presidents, enjoy immunity from civil damages in certain situations but are, nonetheless, “subject to criminal prosecutions like any other citizen.”
In conclusion, Smith called upon the judge to reject Trump’s motion for immunity outright, emphasizing that the former president must be held accountable under federal criminal laws, just like any other American citizen.
You can read the full 54-page motion here.
