Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith said no one, not even presidents, are above the law in a new court filing Saturday—the latest back-and-forth between federal prosecutors and former President Donald Trump’s legal team over Trump’s claims that his time in the White House grants him “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution.
“He is wrong,” Smith’s office wrote Saturday to the D.C. appeals court reviewing Trump’s argument.
Prosecutors cited “principles, constitutional text, history, and precedent” in contesting Trump’s claims that his acquittal in the Senate’s 2021 impeachment trial surrounding his actions related to Jan. 6 prevent him from being prosecuted for his conduct.
Federal prosecutors noted the indictment “charges different offenses than were at issue in his impeachment,” when he was charged with inciting an insurrection.
Smith’s office instead suggested that because Trump was president, he should be held to an even higher standard to protect the sanctity of the electoral process, reiterating allegations that Trump engaged in “illegal acts to remain in power despite losing an election.”
Smith’s office also reference former President Gerald Ford’s pardon of former President Richard Nixon following his resignation in 1974, writing that the fact he was pardoned signaled he could be prosecuted.