WASHINGTON: A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that Donald Trump does not have immunity from charges that he plotted to overturn his 2020 election defeat, bringing the former US president a step closer to an unprecedented criminal trial.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Trump’s claim that he cannot be prosecuted because the allegations relate to his official responsibilities as president.

“We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter,” the unanimous panel wrote.