Donald Trump warned he could prosecute Joseph Biden if he returns to the White House, while his lawyers prepared to argue in a Washington court that Trump should be immune from prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
The Republican former United States (U.S.) president will not have a chance to speak as his lawyers try to convince three federal appeals court judges that the case should be thrown out before it goes to trial in March.
The U.S. Department of Justice has long held the position that current presidents cannot be prosecuted for actions they take while in office, and Trump says this should also apply to former presidents.
If the case against him is not dropped, Trump says he could prosecute Democratic President Biden if he wins the presidential election in November.
“If I don’t get immunity, then corrupt Joseph Biden won’t get immunity,” Trump said in a video posted on social media.
“Joe would be ripe for indictment,” he added.
Trump is the big favorite in the race for the Republican presidential candidate in the 2024 elections.
Trump’s lawyers are expected to tell a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the case should be dismissed.
Allowing the prosecution of former presidents, they argued, “would set in motion cycles of indictment and politically motivated prosecution.”
The special counsel investigating Trump, Jack Smith, argued that granting such a sweeping legal shield would give future presidents a license to commit crimes such as accepting bribes or ordering the FBI to plant evidence against political opponents.
Smith argued that Trump was acting like a presidential candidate, not the president when he pressured officials to overturn the election results and encouraged his supporters to come to the Capitol on January 6th, 2021.
Trump’s request for immunity was already rejected by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
