The Appeals Court hearing on Donald Trumps Immunity Hearing has wrapped up. The threejudge appellant panel facing this big question can the former president be held criminally responsible for actions that he took while in office to overturn the 2020 election loss. We heard a remarkable argument from trumps team who heard the argument that prosecuting a former president would open up a pandoras box as john sauer said that working in the capacity as alleged in the indictment by jack smith, the Special Counsels office pushing back on that. This notion that we are all of the sudden going to be seeing a floodgate, i think that, again, the careful investigations in the clinton era didnt result in any charges. The fact that this investigation did doesnt reflect that we are going to see a sea change of vindictive titfortat prosecutions in the future. I think it reflects fundamentally unprecedented nature of the criminal charges here. Cnns evan perez joins us now. Evan, you were inside of that
the appeals court hearing on donald trump s immunity hearing has wrapped up. the three-judge appellant panel facing this big question can the former president be held criminally responsible for actions that he took while in office to overturn the 2020 election loss. we heard a remarkable argument from trump s team who heard the argument that prosecuting a former president would open up a pandora s box as john sauer said that working in the capacity as alleged in the indictment by jack smith, the special counsel s office pushing back on that. this notion that we are all of the sudden going to be seeing a floodgate, i think that, again, the careful investigations in the clinton era didn t result in any charges. the fact that this investigation did doesn t reflect that we are going to see a sea change of vindictive tit-for-tat prosecutions in the future. i think it reflects fundamentally unprecedented nature of the criminal charges here. cnn s evan perez joins us now. ev
faithful execution of the presidential powers and what is that there are no legitimate execution of overturning the election, and this is venal power, and we have heard this in testimony subsequently, and he ignored it. so, that argument is flimsy at best. and the arguments put forward by the lawyer were effectively dismantled by the judges including a disturbing exchange of whether a president could use seal team six to kill a political rival and then avoid impeachment if he would be liable for impeachment. it is surreal stuff, but it is important. and david, i think that surreal is the right word and also, surreal to see it, but i have to point it out, and hold out, because we have the picture of where he is going to talk, and are you kidding? it is looking like the west wing, and is that intentional? i have to point out the obvious in what i am seeing. thank you very much.
this presentation, and then they come in here, and it is rapid fire questions from the judges who don t have that much patience and don t really pay attention to the clock either. so that was a, i think that always unnerving for any lawyer, but these guys were rolling with the punches. and there was a part in the conversation and it was judge pan, and she asked about a quote from donald trump in the congressional record, and put it up on the screen, and she says, sorry, but there is a quote in the congressional record in which your client said through counsel no former office holder is immune from investigation or prosecution. i am wondering what donald trump was doing when receipts were provided in the courtroom. those were one of the that is one of the few moments where i saw him just look, and stare straight at the judge, and he did not have much of a physical reaction. and you know, there are times
era didn t result in any charges. the fact that this investigation did doesn t reflect that we are going to see a sea change of vindictive tit-for-tat prosecutions in the future. i think it reflects fundamentally unprecedented nature of the criminal charges here. cnn s evan perez joins us now. evan, you were inside of that courtroom, and i have to understand what were your key takeaways and what was the climate like in the actual atmosphere in that room. what did you see? well, once the former president finally got into the courtroom, that is when all of the noise in the room stopped. everybody obviously turned their attention to the former president. he was very subdued, and walked in kind of like a saunter and he took the seat at the defense table with alongside his lawyer john sawuer and one of the thins