President Donald Trump’s legal team has asked a judge to pause the ongoing federal trial of his 2020 election campaign to challenge a ruling against the president’s attempt to claim immunity from defamation lawsuits. The request from the Trump team was made in papers filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The issue in question is the president’s attempt to have two defamation lawsuits against him dismissed on the basis of immunity, a concept that would protect public officials from being sued in the performance of their official duties. Trump’s lawyers argued that the judge’s ruling against immunity does not render the president defenseless, and that they should be allowed time to challenge it on appeal. Trump recently lost an appeal to challenge the lower court ruling, but he has vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary.
