Donald Trump in court: Prosecutor warns of ‘frightening future’ if former president wins case
Donald Trump has appeared in court as he tries to dismiss a federal criminal case where he faces charges he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Mr Trump‘s lawyers argued in front of appeal judges in Washington DC that he was immune from prosecution because he was president at the time of the alleged crimes.
But prosecutors argue he was acting as a candidate, not a president, when he pressured officials to overturn the results and encouraged supporters to march on the US Capitol on January 6 2021, where they stormed the building in a riot.
“The president has a unique constitutional role but he is not above the law,” prosecutor James Pearce argued in court.
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Mr Pearce also called it an “extraordinarily frightening future” if a president was to be granted complete presidential immunity.
Mr Trump, who is due to go on trial in March, has pleaded not guilty to four charges: conspiracy to defraud the US; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction; and conspiracy against the right to vote and to have votes counted.
The panel of three judges, two of whom were appointed by President Biden, were sceptical the former commander-in-chief, who lost to Mr Biden in the 2020 White House race, was immune from prosecution.
“You’re saying a president could sell pardons, could sell military secrets, could tell SEAL Team Six to assassinate a
political rival?” Judge Florence Pan asked Trump lawyer D John Sauer.
Mr Sauer said a former president could be charged for such conduct only if they were first impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted in the Senate.
In Washington, Mr Trump walked into court, took a sigh, unbuttoned his jacket and sat at his lawyers’ table, said NBC reporter Ryan Reilly.
Mr Trump was “mostly muted during his lawyers’ arguments”, but “grew flustered” during the arguments made by the special counsel, who is prosecuting him, Reilly added.
“Trump appeared agitated at times during the special counsel’s arguments, passing notes to his lawyers on a yellow legal pad,” he continued.
“He grew most animated when his lawyer claimed on rebuttal that Trump was winning in the polls, vigorously shaking his head yes.”
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Later at a news conference in a Washington hotel, Mr Trump told reporters: “I feel that as a president, you have to have immunity – it’s very simple.
“I did nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing wrong.”
He also said he felt “very confident” he would win his case.
Earlier at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Mr Sauer hit back at Mr Pearce’s “frightening future” claims, saying: “The ‘frightening future’ that he alleges, where presidents are very, very seldom if ever prosecuted because they have to be impeached and convicted first, is the one we’ve lived under for the last 235 years.
“That’s not a frightening future, that’s our republic.”
He warned that authorising the prosecution of a president for official acts would “open a Pandora’s box from which this nation may never recover”.
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He claimed presidents could be prosecuted for giving Congress “false information” to enter war or for allowing drone strikes targeting Americans abroad.
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The three judges questioned whether they had jurisdiction to consider the appeal at this point in the case, raising the prospect that Mr Trump’s efforts could be rejected.
They also pushed Mr Trump’s lawyer to defend claims he was shielded from criminal charges for acts he says fell within his official duties as president.
That was an argument which was rejected last month by a lower-court judge, Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case.
The appeals court decision could take several weeks or months and its ruling is almost certain to be appealed to the US Supreme Court.
Mr Trump, who is the first former US president to be criminally prosecuted, faces 91 criminal counts in four separate cases.
JD Vance and his wife are due to arrive in Greenland on Friday for a trip that provoked uproar – as Vladimir Putin warns that US threats to take over the island should be taken seriously.
The US vice president and his wife Usha are expected to arrive in Greenland at about 3.30pm GMT to visit America’s military base at Pituffik in the north of the Arctic island.
The itinerary has been stripped back. Mrs Vance had planned a solo visit to a popular dog-sled race on the island with national security adviser Mike Waltz – but the idea provoked anger as they had not been invited by authorities in either Greenland or Denmark.
Her husband then said he would be joining her for that trip, only for the itinerary to be changed once again to a one-day visit to the military post, following protests from Greenland and Denmark.
The trip comes after repeated assertions from Donald Trump that the US should take over Greenland, a territory which has been part of Denmark for 600 years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is not surprised the US wants control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Mr Putin, who after being largely shunned by the West over his invasion of Ukraine has held two phone calls with Mr Trump since the Republican’s inauguration in January, said America’s proposition shouldn’t be seen as “extravagant talk”.
Pic: Reuters
Speaking at a policy forum in the Arctic port of Murmansk, he noted the US first considered plans to win control over Greenland in the 19th century, and then offered to buy it from Denmark after World War Two.
“It can look surprising only at first glance and it would be wrong to believe that this is some sort of extravagant talk by the current US administration,” Mr Putin said.
“It’s obvious that the United States will continue to systematically advance its geostrategic, military-political and economic interests in the Arctic.”
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He went on: “We won’t allow any infringement on our country’s sovereignty, reliably safeguard our national interests while supporting peace and stability in the polar region.”
While pledging to strengthen Russia’s military foothold in the Arctic, Mr Putin said that Moscow was holding the door open to broader international cooperation in the region.
“The stronger our positions will be, the more significant the results will be and the broader opportunities we will have to launch international projects in the Arctic involving the countries that are friendly to us, and, possibly, Western countries if they show interest in joint work. I’m sure the time will come to launch such projects.”
Two events this week will give Greenland and friends in Europe a juddering sense of alarm.
From the West, the US vice president JD Vance is on his way, despatched by a president openly talking of annexation.
From the East a speech from a Russian leader hinting at carving up the Arctic and its vast mineral wealth with Moscow’s new friends in Washington.
In a closely watched speech, Vladimir Putin seemed to give Donald Trump’s plans to seize Greenland the green light.
They were “serious”, he said, and “have deep historical roots”.
Kremlin officials went further saying Russia was open to cooperating with America to exploit the Arctic with “joint investment”.
The Arctic is a huge prize. Its vast mineral wealth is increasingly accessible thanks to climate change.
Russia is well placed to exploit it with bases and ports ringing the Arctic Circle.
Mr Putin though warned that “NATO countries in general are increasingly designating the Far North as a springboard for possible conflicts”.
A map of what surrounds the Arctic Circle
This would appear to be a warning to European nations to back off.
Yet another challenge for Europe
The threat of Russia and America jointly exploiting the Arctic in a great power carve-up is yet another challenge for Europe in this new Trumpian world order. And Greenland is caught in the middle.
Mr Trump has said he thinks the American annexation of Greenland “will happen”.
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He said so with breezy nonchalance in front of NATO’s secretary general in the White House as if taking another alliance member’s territory was entirely normal.
Astonishingly NATO secretary general Mark Rutte did not push back at the idea.
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Both President Trump and his vice president say America needs Greenland for security.
This seems disingenuous. There are no hostile fleets circling the Arctic territory whatever they claim.
Besides, America already has a military base there and could ask to build more.
Mr Vance also says Denmark has neglected Greenland. Denmark actually subsidises the territory to the tune of £480m a year.
In reality, what the Trump administration seeks in Greenland is what it seems to seek in Ukraine. Mineral wealth.
When we visited this month, Greenlanders told Sky News Mr Trump’s threats are little more than a gangster shakedown.
A menacing threat designed to extract material gain.
There is no appetite for an American takeover among Greenlanders. And no enthusiasm for the vice president and his wife.
US officials were reportedly going door to door this week asking if anyone would like to meet America’s second lady. None said yes.
The Vances have had to downscale their visit and will now only be going to the US base at Pittufik.
But it seems the Trump administration is determined one way or another to acquire more territory and Greenland seems top of the list.
And its president may have been persuaded by Mr Putin it is in his best interests to share the world with Russia, whatever that means for America’s allies.
That is a challenge they will need to meet.
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