Federal judge denies Trump's claim of presidential immunity in Special Counsel Jack Smith's Jan. 6 case

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. denied former President Trump's claim of presidential immunity on Friday and ruled against his request to drop the Jan. 6 case.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia, responding to Trump's claim that the Constitution grants him "absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions performed within the ‘outer perimeter’ of his official responsibility," wrote that the former president doesn't have a "lifelong ‘"get-out-of-jail-free’ pass."

"Former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability. Defendant may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office," Chutkan wrote in her opinion.

Responding to Trump's First Amendment argument, Chutkan wrote that the Constitution doesn't protect speech that's used "as an instrument of a crime."