Donald Trump is still buying time before a possible new trial, the Joe Biden camp criticizes the decision

UNITED STATES – Doing everything to delay his trial. Donald Trump has found in the American Supreme Court an ally to succeed in not being judged before the presidential election in November. The court with a conservative majority referred this Monday, July 1, to the lower courts a crucial subject that puts the trial on hold.

At issue is whether the billionaire enjoys criminal immunity as a former president, meaning he would not face prosecution for his attempts to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Joe Biden.

By the voice of the six conservative judges (several of whom were appointed by Donald Trump) against that of the three progressives, the Court considers that “The President has no immunity for his unofficial acts” but that he “is entitled to at least a presumption of immunity for his official acts”. This decision is “a great victory for our democracy and our Constitution”Donald Trump immediately reacted, campaigning to return to the White House.

The Republican “thinks he is above the law”accused Joe Biden’s campaign team, believing that the decision “doesn’t change the facts (…): Donald Trump snapped after losing the 2020 election and encouraged a mob to overturn the results of a free and fair election”according to the words of an electoral campaign advisor.

If re-elected, Trump can dismiss the charges

It was the Supreme Court itself which took up this question on February 28. But instead of examining it right away, she postponed the discussions until later. The entire procedure for this trial, initially scheduled for March 4, and postponed sine die, had already been suspended for four months. By deciding on July 1 not to decide, the judges are further delaying the possible holding of the trial.

And this suits Donald Trump, who, targeted by four separate criminal proceedings, is doing everything he can to be tried as late as possible, in any case after the presidential election. If he were re-elected and after his inauguration in January 2025, he could thus order the federal prosecutions against him to be stopped.

Found guilty on May 30 by New York courts in the Stormy Daniels affair, he will receive his sentence on July 11. But this first criminal conviction, unprecedented for a former American president, in the least politically heavy of the four procedures, therefore risks being the only one before the vote.