Washington, Jan 9):Donald Trump is expected in federal court on Tuesday to argue that as a former US president he should be immune from prosecution on charges he conspired to overturn the 2020 election.
The frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination is scheduled to go on trial on March 4 in a Washington courtroom just blocks away from the US Capitol stormed by his supporters on January 6, 2021.
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.
US 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."
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," Chutkan said.
Trump appealed the decision and a three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit is to hear oral arguments in the case at 9:30 am (1430 GMT) on Tuesday.
Two of the judges were appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden while the third was named by Republican president George H.W. Bush.
Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said he believes Trump, the first former US president ever to face criminal charges, is unlikely to prevail in the immunity case.
"My sense is Trump is going to have an uphill battle," Muller told AFP. "I think some of the claims he's making are pretty broad."
Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, said he would attend Tuesday's hearing and warned that a rejection of his immunity defense could lead to indictments of Biden if he returns to power.
"The least I am entitled to is Presidential Immunity on Fake Biden Indictments!" the 77-year-old ex-president said.
"If I don't get Immunity, then Crooked Joe Biden doesn't get Immunity," Trump said, claiming his 81-year-old Democratic opponent "would be ripe for Indictment."
