Donald Trump in court for hearing on 'absolute immunity' claim

Donald Trump, frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is scheduled to go on trial in Washington on March 4 on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction linked to his efforts to upend the 2020 vote.

Donald Trump arrived in a Washington court on January 9 to argue that as a former U.S. president he should be immune from prosecution on charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election.

The 77-year-old Mr. Trump arrived in a motorcade to attend an appeals court hearing at a federal courthouse just blocks away from the U.S. Capitol stormed by his supporters on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power to election winner Joe Biden.

Mr. Trump, frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is scheduled to go on trial in Washington on March 4 on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction linked to his efforts to upend the 2020 vote.

Mr. Trump's attorneys have sought to quash the election interference charges with the novel argument that a former President enjoys "absolute immunity" and cannot be prosecuted for actions he took while in the White House.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is to preside over the historic trial, rejected the immunity claim last month, saying an ex-President does not have a "lifelong 'get-out-of-jail-free' pass."

Mr. Trump's "four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens," Judge Chutkan said.

Mr. Trump appealed that decision and a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit was hearing oral arguments in the case on January 9. Two of the judges were appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden while the third was named by Republican president George H.W. Bush.