Trump immunity granted in US Supreme Court ruling

“No one is above the law, not even the president of the United States,” he said.

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“The American people must decide if they want to entrust … the presidency to Donald Trump, now knowing he’ll be more emboldened to do whatever he pleases, whenever he wants to do it.”

“Should the American people dissent? I dissent.”

However, Chief Justice John Roberts insisted in his ruling that “no president is above the law”, but their actions must not be criminalised when he or she is “carrying out the responsibilities of the executive branch under the Constitution”.

The Supreme Court ruling is a significant victory for Trump, whose lawyers have already asked a judge to delay his New York sentencing and want to set aside the guilty verdict in his hush money trial.

It also comes at a time when Biden’s bid for re-election has been thrown into doubt. Despite panic in some sections of the Democratic Party, Biden and his supporters say he does not intend to step aside and make way for another candidate.

“I’m scared as shit and I think Americans are scared – and should be scared – of what Donald Trump will do,” said his principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks.

“So I can reassure you that when you do see president Biden out on the trail, he will be talking about the reasons why Americans should be scared of Donald Trump, as he has been for months, and this Supreme Court opinion today just amplified that.”

Today’s ruling comes 10 months after Special Counsel Jack Smith charged Trump for allegedly conspiring to overturn Biden’s election victory.

This means that some things are now off-limits, such as certain interactions with Justice Department officials, including Trump’s threat to fire the then attorney-general, Jeffrey Rosen, in favour of a loyalist.

He is also “presumptively immune” from being prosecuted for interactions with his vice president, Mike Pence – whom Trump pressured to reject electoral votes – because discussions about vice-presidential responsibility were part of his job, the court found.

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Other matters – such as his other attempts to stop the vote certification; his rally speech that led to rioters storming the Capitol and the plot to organise fake electors – will be up to the lower court to decide.