Biden says he ‘can’t think of one’ reason for total presidential immunity

President Biden said he “can’t think of one” reason for presidents to receive total immunity from prosecution, as former President Trump pushes for the courts to grant him immunity, Bloomberg reported. 

Biden reportedly made the comment Saturday in response to a reporter’s question before he left the White House to travel to Camp David, where he’ll spend Christmas, according to the outlet.

Trump’s legal team on Saturday asked the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss the federal election interference case against him that special counsel Jack Smith has brought on grounds that Trump’s actions should be protected under presidential immunity. 

Trump previously made the argument to Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has been overseeing the proceedings of the case, but she rejected it, ruling that the “position [of president] does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass.” 

Smith had requested that the Supreme Court step in to rule on Trump’s immunity argument and skip over the appeals court ruling to keep the trial — which is currently set to begin in March — on schedule. But the court declined to take up the ruling for now in an unsigned, one-sentence order. 

The appeals court has set a hearing early next month on the arguments. 

Trump is facing a variety of felony counts in the federal election case against him. The charges include conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. 

Trump has pleaded not guilty and derided the charges against him as politically motivated. 

The former president’s lawyers argued in their filing to the appeals court that the actions mentioned in the indictment were official actions under the office of the presidency, and Trump would need to be impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate to face criminal prosecution for any official act he took while in office.