Trump not immune from prosecution in 2020 election case, appeals court says, siding with special counsel

Washington — A federal appeals court in Washington found former President Donald Trump is not entitled to broad immunity from federal prosecution, delivering a landmark decision that would allow the criminal case against the former president involving the 2020 presidential election to move forward if the ruling is upheld.

A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in its opinion Tuesday that it is upholding the decision from a lower court denying him absolute immunity from prosecution.

"For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant," the three-judge panel wrote in its opinion. "But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution."