Judge Hands Trump a Win, Says Stolen Election Claims Protected by Presidential Immunity
A Pennsylvania state judge ruled Monday that a county election worker cannot sue former President Donald Trump for statements he made while in office questioning the integrity of the 2020 election.
James Savage, a voting machine supervisor in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia, filed two lawsuits against Trump arguing statements Trump made via Twitter in November 2020 regarding the election’s integrity defamed him and subjected him to “hatred” and death threats, resulting in him experiencing two heart attacks.
Trump made the statements during a GOP-led Pennsylvania State Senate Majority Policy Committee in Gettysburg reviewing claims of election fraud.
Savage alleged that Trump, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, two Delaware County poll watchers, and others “conspired to defame him and place him in a false light by publicly and falsely claiming that he tampered with the 2020 Presidential election results,” according to Breitbart.
“A Nov. 27, 2020, Trump tweet that was referenced in the suit made claims of missing USB drives and tens of thousands of votes uploaded for [Democrat Joe] Biden,” the news outlet said.
Savage’s legal complaint asserts that Trump and the other defendants in the suit “actively and maliciously disseminated the facially absurd claim that Plaintiff individually somehow changed the vote tabulation by uploading 50,000 votes for Joe Biden from suspiciously collected USB v-cards.”
“The Defendants knew that what they were describing was an absolute impossibility, namely because Mr. Savage was not trained to use the software that uploads data from the USB v-cards.”
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Erdos ruled Monday that presidential immunity covers Trump’s statements.
“Here, then-President Trump’s Gettysburg remarks and his tweet were public,” Erdos wrote, according to The Hill.
“Moreover, the topic of these statements — claims from third parties and the President himself about irregularities in the Presidential election which on their face called into question the integrity of the election and whether now-President Joseph Biden had been duly elected — was undoubtedly a matter of great public concern,” the judge continued.
“Other legal proceedings may examine the propriety of his statements and actions while he was the President and whether, as the plaintiffs in this and other cases contend, it was this conduct which served as the actual threat to our democracy,” Erdos further wrote. “But this case is not the proper place to do so. Here, Trump is entitled to Presidential immunity.”
While presidential immunity is not directly addressed in the Constitution, the doctrine has developed over time through Supreme Court rulings concerning constitutionally granted executive authority, according to FindLaw.
Under the doctrine, the president is immune from civil liability from suits arising from actions related to his official duties.
Savage also sued Trump for a letter he submitted to the House Jan. 6 Committee in October 2022.
“Trump is not immune from as it was written after leaving office,” The Hill reported.
The 45th president’s legal spokeswoman Alina Habba responded to Erdos’ ruling with a statement Monday.
“We are pleased with the Court’s decision to honor the long-standing principle of Presidential Immunity,” she said.
“Today, the Court made it clear that it is well within the President’s discretion to address the integrity of our election without fear of liability,” Habba continued. “We expect that the rest of Mr. Savage’s claims will similarly be disposed of as they are without merit.”
Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that he is anticipating being indicted by special counsel Jack Smith soon for statements he made in a speech on Jan. 6 questioning the integrity of the 2020 election.
“I assume that an Indictment from Deranged Jack Smith and his highly partisan gang of Thugs, pertaining to my “PEACEFULLY & PATRIOTICALLY Speech, will be coming out any day now, as yet another attempt to cover up all of the bad news about bribes, payoffs, and extortion, coming from the Biden ‘camp,'” he wrote.
“This seems to be the way they do it. ELECTION INTERFERENCE! PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT!” Trump added.
Trump told his supporters in his Jan. 6, 2021, rally speech near the White House, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
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