Former White House ethics lawyer Jim Schultz, who served under the Trump administration, predicted Monday that former President Trump will “swiftly” lose his claim for immunity as he faces multiple federal indictments.
The Supreme Court decided Dec. 22 not to take up whether Trump can be prosecuted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election; Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith made an attempt to skip over an immediate appeals process and bring the issue directly before the high court to keep the trial on schedule, but the court turned down his request.
The case now heads to the District of Columbia Circuit Court, which Schultz says is “kind of the warm-up act of a Supreme Court,” since many of the justices came from the circuit court.
“So, Jack Smith has a winner with this one, right?” Schultz told CNN in an interview, highlighted by Mediaite. “And I think in this instance, the D.C. Circuit Court is going to act swiftly.”
“And I think they’re going to knock down this immunity claim, you know, very swiftly,” he added.
The former president’s legal team claimed Trump should be immune from prosecution in the case because the conduct noted in the indictment happened while he was still in office — including the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the Capitol. Their argument was previously rejected by the original judge overseeing the case.
Trump appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court, and Smith rebuffed his claim that he should get immunity.
Smith wrote in a filing that an individual who once served as president may face “investigation, indictment, trial, and, if convicted, punishment for conduct committed during the Presidency.”
“The President stands alone in the constitutional firmament, but legal principles and historical evidence establish that, once out of office, a former President may face federal criminal prosecution like any other citizen,” the filing reads.