The judge in charge of the case against former US President Donald Trump (2017-2021) for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election This Friday he rejected that the former president is protected by presidential immunityallowing the cause to continue.

The judge, Tanya Chutkan, has written in an order that “Former presidents do not enjoy special conditions in his federal criminal responsibility.” Trump’s legal team had argued that the former president cannot be tried for events that took place when he was still in office and was therefore protected by presidential immunity.

Chutkan has rejected that argument, allowing the case to move forward. The former president’s lawyers are expected to appeal the decision, which could delay the trial, scheduled for March 4. Trump is charged in Washington DC with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempted obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

“Revert legitimate results”

The Prosecutor’s Office established that, after losing the November 3, 2020 elections to Democrat Joe Biden, the then president embarked on a conspiracy to “revert legitimate results” of the presidential elections with false allegations that there was electoral fraud and multiple stratagems.

The former president is also involved in three other criminal proceedings: one for electoral interference in the state of Georgia, another in Florida for taking classified papers from the White House when leaving power, and another in New York for irregular payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels to silence a ‘affair’ they had in the past.

The issue of presidential immunity, which Trump’s defense has indicated it would try to invoke in the rest of the criminal cases, could reach the country’s Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the former president continues to lead the polls to win the Republican nomination for the 2024 elections, in which he hopes to face Biden again.