Donald Trump has tried to have his 2020 election interference case thrown out of federal court, claiming he is immune from prosecution for actions that were taken in his official role as US president.
Lawyers for the former US president have forced courts to look at whether Mr Trump’s steps to try and remain in office fell within his duties as president or whether they are subject to prosecution.
“Breaking 234 years of precedent, the incumbent administration has charged President Trump for acts that lie not just within the ‘outer perimeter,’ but at the heart of his official responsibilities as president,” his lawyers stated.
“In doing so, the prosecution does not, and cannot, argue that President Trump’s efforts to ensure election integrity, and to advocate for the same, were outside the scope of his duties.”
It is not clear when US District Judge Tanya Chutkan might rule, but an expected appeal if she denies the request could delay the case.
The Supreme Court has held that presidents are immune from civil liability for actions related to their official duties.
But Mr Trump’s lawyers say that no court has addressed the question of whether that immunity shields a president from criminal prosecution, hinting that they will likely fight the issue all the way to the nation’s highest court.
Prosecutors said Mr Trump’s actions strayed far beyond what is legally permissible in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the building to disrupt the counting of electoral votes.
The Justice Department has held that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.
The defence motion on Thursday sought to ensure that same protection to a former president for actions taken while in office, asserting that no prosecutor since the beginning of US democracy has had the authority to bring such charges.
“Every action of the defendant charged in the indictment occurred while he was still in office as President of the United States, and, according to the prosecution, all concerned a federal government function,” Mr Trump’s lawyers wrote.
They contend that Trump’s tweets and public statements about fraud in the election and Vice President Mike Pence’s role in the certification were directly related to his assertion that the election’s outcome was tainted by fraud.
They claimed meetings detailed in the indictment with Justice Department officials also fall within his official duties because he was urging his agency “to do more to enforce the laws that it is charged with enforcing.”
Prosecutors accuse Mr Trump of conspiring with allies to pressure state officials to alter the results of their elections, enlist fake electors in battleground states who could falsely claim that he had won and persuade Mr Pence to certify the vote count before Congress.
The indictment says Mr Trump knew the claims he was pushing about election fraud were false but did so anyway in an effort to undermine the integrity of the democratic process.
The case, one of four Trump is facing, is currently set for trial in March next year.
