The Detroit News published a recording of a November 2020 phone call where Trump pressured Michigan Republican officials not to certify their county’s election results.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel was also on the call, pushing the officials to reject certification.
“If you can go home tonight, do not sign it… We will get you attorneys,” Ronna McDaniel said. The call raises questions about potential legal ramifications for both Trump and McDaniel.
Attorney Ty Cobb said the call reveals “the depths to which Trump personally participated in fraudulently pimping the ‘Big Lie.’” Michigan ultimately sent a fake certificate to Congress claiming Trump won the state’s 2020 election, leading to felony charges for Republicans.
This echoes previous instances of Trump pressuring officials in Georgia and Arizona, sparking discussions about election interference and potential legal consequences.
A federal appeals panel rejected Donald Trump’s immunity claims, allowing him to face trial for allegedly plotting to overturn the 2020 election results.
The ruling revives a stalled prosecution, but the trial’s timing is uncertain due to potential delays from further appeals. Trump’s team plans to appeal, potentially prolonging the case, with political implications as the trial could impact the upcoming election.
Judges ruled unanimously that Trump can be prosecuted for actions during his presidency and before the Capitol riot, rejecting his claim of absolute immunity.
“We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter,” the judges wrote. Trump plans to appeal the ruling to protect the presidency and asserts that a president needs full immunity to function effectively.
The court emphasized that as a citizen, Trump lacks the executive immunity he had as president, stating that accountability outweighs the risk of chilling presidential actions and refuting the idea of unbounded presidential authority to commit crimes affecting election results or citizens’ voting rights.
“For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant,” the court wrote. “But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.”
He faces multiple criminal indictments and a civil lawsuit. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is central in the immunity dispute, with the Supreme Court potentially deciding on Trump’s appeal. If the Supreme Court takes up the case, the trial proceedings could be further delayed depending on the court’s decision on immunity for presidents in criminal prosecutions.
The judges posed a series of extreme hypotheticals to test his legal theory of immunity. This included whether a president who directed US forces to assassinate a political rival could be prosecuted.
Trump’s lawyer, D. John Sauer, answered yes, but only if a president had first been impeached and convicted by Congress.
