Supreme Court is expected to send former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity case back to the lower courts for further review, according to Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Last week, the nation’s highest court heard arguments presented by President Trump’s legal team and special counsel Jack Smith’s team concerning whether the 45th president should be immune from prosecution in connection to Mr. Smith’s election case. President Trump has argued for absolute immunity from prosecution, while the special counsel disagrees.
While some conservative-leaning justices seemed inclined to agree with at least some of President Trump’s arguments, others, including Chief Justice John Roberts, suggested sending the case back to an appeals court in Washington. Earlier this year, a panel of judges on that court rejected the former president’s arguments, leading to his appeal to the Supreme Court.
Senator Graham, a lawyer himself, expressed his views on CNN’s “State of the Union” on April 28, stating, “I believe the high court is going to find that presidential immunity exists for President Trump like every other president, but you’ve got to be within the scope of being president.” He added, “I think they’ll send it back to the lower courts to find out exactly what actions fall within presidential immunity and what are considered personal. I think that’s the way this will end—there will be some immunity for some of the actions.”
Graham also emphasized that he believes “there’s no absolute immunity in the Constitution,” stating, “We don’t become a banana republic here. We prosecute our political opponents, which is going on really in many jurisdictions. But I think the immunity question will be decided partially for Trump and some legal, some factual analysis as to when and where it applies.”
In the meantime, President Trump, who is subject to a partial gag order, has not held a campaign rally since the trial started, although two are planned for this week in the battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin. An incoming storm forced him to abruptly postpone a North Carolina rally on April 20. On his one day off from the trial last week, he played golf.
President Trump has taken to Truth Social, his social media platform, to call the trial a “witch hunt” and election interference, accusing the judge of being conflicted.
Last week, several witnesses offered testimony in the trial, including a former Trump assistant, a bank official, and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
He faces criminal charges in New York of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment made by his lawyer at the time to adult performer Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, which prosecutors claim was meant to influence the 2016 election. The former president has denied her allegations that they engaged in an extramarital affair a decade earlier and has pleaded not guilty, saying the payments were normal legal expenses.
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt predicted the case would backfire.
“As this witch-hunt continues, President Trump’s support from Americans of all backgrounds will continue to grow as they watch Joe Biden and the Democrats put on this bogus show trial six months before the election,” she told Reuters this weekend.
