Trump has 'steep uphill climb' to convince judges in upcoming hearing: legal expert

Donald Trump is facing a big week in court, but he faces a "steep uphill climb" in his effort to escape prosecution in the Washington, D.C., election subversion case, according to an expert.

The former president has asked an appeals court to grant him broad immunity in that case and others, arguing that he was acting in his official capacity as president when he sought to overturn his 2020 election loss.

But CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said he would be surprised if his arguments were persuasive.

"No judge state, federal, at any level, any person claiming something they did in relation to Jan. 6 was within their job, no judge has accepted that," Honig said.

"The people claiming they were acting within the scope of their job are zero for all time. Nobody yet has been given any legal benefit on that road, and this is a reason why Trump has a steep uphill climb."

Trump's lawyers will argue Tuesday before the 11th District Court of Appeals, where a three-judge panel will eventually rule on his motion, and Honig said the former president will try to stall that process while special counsel Jack Smith tries to keep it moving along quickly.

"Jack Smith will probably win this, but how much time will it take to win this?" Honig said. "In an ordinary course, let's assume Donald Trump loses tomorrow, he would exhaust all of his appeals. He can ask the entire circuit court — it's called en banc — to review this, and then can go to the Supreme Court. In an ordinary course that would take us well into the summer.

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"We know Jack Smith is not willing to wait that long. One thing he's asked the Court of Appeals to do is, five days after you make your decision, send it back down to the trial court. We need to get the trial court proceedings back on track."

"Really important decision," Honig added. "Not only will the Court of Appeals rule for or against Jack Smith, but if they rule for him will they send it back to the District Court or keep it on pause — it's important to remember, the district course right now is what we call stayed, meaning it's on pause until the whole appeal gets resolved."

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