Court rejects Trump’s claim he can’t be criminally prosecuted in case because it involved actions he took while president

A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected Donald Trump’s claim that he is immune from criminal prosecution on charges that he plotted to overturn the 2020 election results because it involved actions he took while president, declining to endorse such an expansive interpretation of executive power. The decision by a three-judge panel at the US court of appeals for the DC circuit also categorically rejected Trump’s position that he could only be prosecuted if he had been convicted in a Senate impeachment trial first. “We cannot accept former President Trump’s claim that a president has unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power,” the unsigned but unanimous opinion from the three-judge panel said. “At bottom, former President Trump’s stance would collapse our system of separated powers by placing the President beyond the reach of all three branches,” the opinion said. “We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter.” The panel gave Trump until 12 February to inform the DC circuit that he will