Donald Trump asks Supreme Court to delay election interference case
Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to extend a delay in his trial for attempting to overturn the result of the 2020 US election, arguing he is immune from prosecution.
The former president’s lawyers have filed an emergency appeal asking the justices to pause a ruling made by a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington, which rejected his claim of immunity and ruled the trial could proceed.
The ruling meant he could be prosecuted for actions he took while in the White House from January 2017 and in the run-up to 6 January 2021 when a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol.
“Without immunity from criminal prosecution, the Presidency as we know it will cease to exist,” Mr Trump’s lawyers wrote.
They argued that “conducting a months-long criminal trial of President Trump at the height of election season will radically disrupt President Trump’s ability to campaign” against President Joe Biden ahead of the election.
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The filing effectively pauses what would be a landmark criminal trial of a former president while the nation’s highest court decides what to do.
The Supreme Court’s decision could determine whether the Republican, who is the overwhelming favourite to be nominated to run again, stands trial in the case before the election in November.
The case was brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, whose team has pushed for the trial to take place this year. Mr Trump has repeatedly sought to delay the case.
If he were to defeat Mr Biden and be elected president a second time, Mr Trump could use his federal powers to force an end to the prosecution or potentially pardon himself for any federal crimes.
The Supreme Court could reject the emergency appeal, which would enable proceedings to restart in Washington’s federal court, or it could extend the delay while it hears arguments on the issue of immunity.
Mr Trump’s lawyers indicated they would seek to prolong the delay by also asking the full bench of judges at the federal appeals court in Washington to weigh in and only after that would they file a formal appeal to the Supreme Court – which would delay the restart of trial preparations by weeks if not months.
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The case is one of four prosecutions Mr Trump faces as he campaigns to retake the White House.
He faces federal charges in Florida on claims he illegally retained classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
He is also charged in state court in Georgia with scheming to subvert the state’s 2020 election and in New York in connection with hush money payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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