Trump entitled to some immunity in January 6 riots case, US Supreme Court rules

The Supreme Court has decided former presidents have absolute immunity from being prosecuted for any "official acts" they committed while in office, ITV News' US Correspondent Dan Rivers explains.

The US Supreme Court has ruled Donald Trump will be granted some immunity in an upcoming criminal trial for his role in the Capitol riots.

The ruling marks a rejection of a federal appeals court decision from February, which ruled Trump had no immunity from alleged crimes committed to reverse the 2020 election result.

In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court justices decided former presidents have absolute immunity from being prosecuted for any "official acts" they committed while they were in office - but have no immunity for unofficial acts.

Lower courts will now decide exactly how this ruling will be applied to Trump's case - which has now been even further delayed.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: “We conclude that under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of presidential power requires that a former president have some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office.

“At least with respect to the president’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute.”

Roberts added: “The president enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the president does is official. The president is not above the law."

The former president was indicted on charges relating to his attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election in August 2023.

Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the US, witness tampering, and conspiracy against the rights of citizens in an effort to repeal the election result.

On January 6 2021, crowds of around one hundred Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building, after the former president urged them to descend on the seat of the country's Congress.

The rioters violently broke into the building, attacked police officers and disrupted the congressional counting of electoral votes.

ITV News' journalists and television crew were the only team who filmed the riots from inside Congress itself.

Trump continues to deny any wrongdoing, and has said the move to prosecute him is politically motivated to try to keep him from returning to the White House.

The decision comes after Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May.

The trial focused on allegations that Trump and his allies conspired to stifle potentially embarrassing stories during the 2016 presidential campaign through hush money payments - including to former adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

The former president still faces three other indictments, including a case focusing on his mishandling of classified documents.

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