Donald Trump Dealt Major Blow in Election Case

The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's election subversion case in Washington, D.C., ruled on Friday that Trump does not have immunity from criminal charges regarding his activities as president, rejecting his bid to have the case dismissed.

"Whatever immunities a sitting president may enjoy, the United States has only one chief executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong 'get-out-of-jail-free' pass," U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in her ruling.

Trump was indicted on four counts in August, accused of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. It is one of four criminal cases the former president is facing, and he has also pleaded not guilty to all charges in the other three.

Trump's defense team has argued his actions leading up to the January 6 attack are protected by presidential immunity. Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith's office, meanwhile, has accused Trump of a "conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one's vote counted," among other charges.

"Former presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability," Chutkan wrote in her decision. "Defendant may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office."

In a response to a request for comment, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told Newsweek in a statement: "Radical Democrats, under the direction of Crooked Joe Biden, continue to try and destroy bedrock constitutional principles and set dangerous precedents that would cripple future presidential administrations and our country as a whole, in their desperate effort to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election."

Cheung added: "The corrupt leftists will fail and President Trump will keep fighting for America and Americans, including by challenging these wrongful decisions in higher courts."

Chutkan's decision came on the same day that a federal appeals court ruled Trump can be sued in the incitement of the Capitol siege.

Trump at the moment faces three lawsuits filed by Capitol police officers and members of Congress over the January 6 riot. The lawsuits allege that Trump's claims of widespread election fraud, which have not been substantiated, as well as his speech at the "Stop the Steal" rally earlier on January 6, helped incite the mob of his supporters to violence.

Trump's attorneys also argued his presidential immunity protects him from liability, saying his words involved "matters of public concern." But a three-judge panel found that Trump was operating "in his personal capacity as a presidential candidate" at the time of the "Stop the Steal" rally, Reuters reported.

Legal analyst and former Department of Justice official Harry Litman weighed in on the Friday decisions in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"From the standpoint of legal news, today is an absolute tsunami, culminating in Judge Chutkan's opinion denying Trump's immunity motion," Litman wrote. 'Enough legal developments to choke a horse, and all in all a disastrous legal day for Donald Trump."

Update 12/01/23, 9:25 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include a statement from a Trump spokesperson and more background information.