Donald Trump Issues Supreme Court Warning
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks as he participates in the first presidential debate of the 2024 elections with US President Joe Biden at CNN's studios in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024. Trump posted a warning on social media ahead of the Supreme Court's decision on his immunity claims.
The Supreme Court is due to issue the most anticipated decision of its term on Monday, and former President Donald Trump is set to learn whether he is immune from prosecution for his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, is meeting for the final time this term on July 1. The justices are expected to issue a blockbuster decision about whether former presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts they took in office. Trump has argued they are, in an effort to have the indictment he faces on charges of election interference dismissed.
Ahead of the decision, Trump took to social media to say the U.S. president "literally could not function" without immunity.
"Without Presidential Immunity, a President of the United States literally could not function! It should be a STRONG IMMUNITY, where proper decisions can be made, where our Country can be POWERFUL and THRIVE, and where Opponents cannot hold up and extort a Future President for Political Gain," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
"It is a BIG decision, an important decision, a decision which can affect the Success or Failure of our Country for decades to come. We want a GREAT Country, not a weak, withering, and ineffective one. STRONG PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY IS A MUST!"
Newsweek has contacted a Trump spokesperson for comment via email.
The justices were skeptical when they heard arguments on April 25. But by holding on to the case until July, they have reduced the chance that Trump will have to stand trial before the November election, no matter what the ruling is.
In a case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, Trump was indicted on four felony counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
The trial was due to start on March 4, but it has been on hold while the Supreme Court weighed the immunity question.
Delaying the start of his trials while Trump seeks to win back the White House has been a goal of his lawyers in all four criminal cases against him.
Only one case has gone to trial, and in May, Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime after he was found guilty by a New York jury on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Daniels alleged having a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier, which Trump has denied. After the verdict, he said the trial was "rigged" and that he would appeal. Trump is set to be sentenced on July 11.
In another federal case brought by Smith, Trump is charged with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and obstructing the government's efforts to retrieve them.
He is also charged alongside several others with attempting to overturn his narrow loss to Biden in the 2020 election in Georgia. He has denied any wrongdoing in all the cases.
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