Donald Trump Is Using Alexander Hamilton in His Defense

Donald Trump should not be tried in court for alleged fraud in the 2020 election because it could cause major public unrest, his attorneys submitted to the court.

In a written submission to Judge Tanya Chutkan, they claim that founding father Alexander Hamilton expressly said that only the Senate could try a president to avoid exciting public passions. They added that Hamilton said even the U.S. Supreme Court could not try a president. It was one of several arguments in their submission based on Hamilton's writings.

Trump was indicted on four counts in Washington, D.C., for allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's attorneys by email on Thursday for comment.

The filing by Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and John Lauro is in support of their motion that the case should be dismissed on constitutional grounds.

The submission relies extensively on the Federalist Papers, a collection of essays written in 1788 by Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay to promote the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

They said Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers that the prosecution of a president "will seldom fail to agitate the passions of the whole community, and to divide it into parties, more or less friendly or inimical, to the accused," and therefore the prosecution should be left to the U.S. Senate.

The submission quotes Hamilton as writing that trying a president in court will lead to dispute between "pre-existing factions" in American society and will enlist "all their animosities, partialities, influence and interest on one side, or on the other."

"Hamilton went on to argue that even the Supreme Court should not handle the trial of a president," they said, because the decision was too serious to be left to what Hamilton called "a small number of persons."

Hamilton's view was that a president should first undergo an impeachment trial in the Senate before being tried, they said.

"The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and, upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law," they quoted Hamilton as writing in the Federalist Papers.