After the Senate acquitted Donald Trump of the "high crimes and misdemeanors" alleged in his second impeachment, Mitch McConnell, then the chamber's majority leader, emphasized that the former president still could be held accountable for his reckless behavior before and during the Capitol riot. "We have a criminal justice system in this country," the Kentucky Republican said. "We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one."
McConnell was wrong about that, Trump's lawyers argue in a brief they filed on Saturday. They are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overrule U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who this month rejected Trump's claim that presidential immunity bars Special Counsel Jack Smith from prosecuting him for trying to reverse Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election. "President Trump has absolute immunity from prosecution for his official acts as President," Trump lawyer John Sauer argues. "The indictment alleges only official acts, so it must be dismissed."
