Trump's legal filing to claim prosecutorial immunity from the federal election interference case is doomed to fail, said former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade on Friday's edition of MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" — but that doesn't mean he had no strategic reason for making the motion.
This comes as special counsel Jack Smith rebuts Trump's claims in a new response filing this week.
"It's a legal architecture pulling the thread on what Trump's actually saying, right?" said anchor Nicolle Wallace. "Like the eye roll is like if you accept — this is — Judge Chutkan will be the arbiter of this, but what the prosecutors are saying is that if you accept Trump's argument that he has absolute immunities, you are saying the president has impunity. How do you think it will roll, Barb?"
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"I think people have thought all along this is a frivolous filing," said McQuade. "A likely unsuccessful filing."
"I would imagine that she will read these briefs, give it the hearings it is due, and make a decision. I fully expect her to reject this argument. It may even be that the reason that the Trump lawyers are doing this is because they know full well they will lose, but it perhaps buys a little more time because I do think this is the kind of issue for which an interlocutory appeal is possible. They will get a shot to take this to the circuit court. They may decide in short order. But any delay is in Trump's best interests for him."
"So you're saying he'll lose, but the time it takes to litigate all this may aid him?" said the host.
"Yes, exactly," said McQuade. "You know, he's — there is a trial date that's set in this case. But if there are interlocutory appellate issues that could be it, to file any motion you can think of in hopes of delaying the trial date."
"The nonlegal distinction, spaghetti on the wall," chimed in Wallace.
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