GOP isn't backing Trump's presidential immunity claim: analysis

A pivotal argument in former President Donald Trump's defense against federal election interference charges will reach the Supreme Court this month without key support from a conspicuously absent group — his own political party.

That's according to analysis of the presidential immunity claim, which Trump is slated to present to the nation's highest court on April 25, from Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio.

Desiderio compares court filings in the upcoming hearing — in which Trump will argue he cannot be prosecuted for any official acts as a standing U.S. president — to those filed in another Trump-focused case that reached the Supreme Court earlier this year: Colorado's insurrectionist ban challenge.

The Colorado case drew a slew of congressional Republicans to Trump's corner, as is documented by an amicus brief — a legal show of support — signed by 41 Republican senators and 136 members of the House, Punchbowl News' senior congressional reporter notes.

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In contrast, just one senator and 26 House representatives signed a similar amicus brief in support of Trump's presidential immunity claim, according to the analysis, Desiderio writes. None are in the top leadership of either chamber.

What's more, additional support from Trump's fellow Republicans is not expected, Desiderio writes: "The deadline for submitting a brief in support of Trump’s position in the immunity case has already passed."

Desiderio argues that the lack of Republican backing suggests Trump's fellow Republicans don't much like his claim that a president would be unable to serve his country without the freedom even to assassinate political rivals.

"The disparity between the level of GOP support for Trump in each case serves to highlight the unpopularity of the former president’s chief legal defense," he writes.

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Whether or not his argument will be popular with the Supreme Court remains to be seen.

Special counsel Jack Smith's case against Trump — accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol — has effectively been put on pause until the justices renders their ruling.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges and accused Smith of conducting a political witch hunt.