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By Katherine Fung
Senior Writer
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The Supreme Court gave President Joe Biden new protection with its ruling on former President Donald Trump's immunity claims, former federal prosecutor and elected state attorney Michael McAuliffe told Newsweek.
The court ruled Monday that Trump has presidential immunity for official acts but not for unofficial acts, sending the case back to the lower courts for Judge Tanya Chutkan to decide whether the acts alleged in the indictment are official or unofficial. Chutkan is overseeing Trump's federal election interference case.
"In theory, the decision provides [Biden] more protection from what Trump has publicly said he would pursue against Biden if Trump were elected again as president," McAuliffe said.
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Trump how vowed to seek revenge against his political opponents if he returns to the White House in November. Just last week, the former president said during the first presidential debate that Biden "could be a convicted felon with all of the things that he's done," in reference to the Democrat's policies on immigration and Ukraine.
"This man is a criminal," Trump said of his rival.
But because the Supreme Court has ruled that any official conduct by a president is protected from criminal prosecution, it's unlikely Trump would have any luck bringing such charges against Biden if he defeats him in the 2024 election.
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For Trump, however, McAuliffe said Monday's ruling means "numerous additional hearings and a determination by the trial judge as to what types of conduct are alleged in the pending indictment—core presidential, official, or nonofficial."
"Depending on the trial judge's determinations, the next issue is what evidence will be allowed to prove any allegations of nonimmunized conduct," he said. "That process will effectively push the case, assuming some of the indictment survives—both as to allegations and the ability to prove them—beyond the election."
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek the Supreme Court had been expected to give Trump some type of immunity, although not as sweeping as the former president wished.
"It was clear from the question presented when they accepted the case and the oral arguments that the Supreme Court was going to allow some immunity for official acts, even for former presidents," Rahmani said. "That's where the D.C. Circuit got it wrong."
He said the real question was whether the court would also decide whether Trump's conduct leading up to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot would be classified as official acts or if the justices would leave it up to Chutkan to decide. By going with the latter, Rahmani said the Supreme Court "gave Trump a huge win."
"Not substantively, because I think Judge Chutkan will decide that Trump's actions were personal and not official, but procedurally because the additional delay will push his criminal cases past the November election," he said. "Trump is likely to be president in 2025, and a sitting president can't be prosecuted."
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