Even if the US Supreme Court rejects Donald Trump's claim of broad immunity from federal prosecution, sources close to the former president believe he's "already won," according to a Wednesday, April 24 exclusive Rolling Stone report.
Oral arguments for the MAGA hopeful's case are expected to begin Thursday, April 25.
Per Rolling Stone, "many of the former president’s lawyers and political advisers have already accepted that the justices will likely rule against him, and reject his claims to expansive presidential immunity in perpetuity," according to three people familiar with the matter.
READ MORE: Ex-prosecutor: SCOTUS delay in deciding Trump immunity is 'corrosive' to democracy
Their strategy of delay worked out for Trump, the sources say.
When the Supreme Court agreed to take up the former president's argument, many legal experts denounced the decision with the knowledge that Trump's DC election interference trial will likely be delayed until close to the November election — or even until after the election.
Rolling Stone reports:
If the federal trial were to proceed during this election year, much of Team Trump had predicted it would be significantly more damaging politically to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee than, for instance, his ongoing criminal hush-money trial in Manhattan.
"We already pulled off the heist," a source close to the ex-president told Rolling Stone, contending that the high court's ruling simply "doesn't matter."
READ MORE: 'Major opening for Trump': How SCOTUS endangered Jack Smith’s election interference case
The news outlet reports, "Bringing the case before the court — after a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., shut down their arguments on executive power — was a delaying tactic designed to push Trump’s criminal election subversion trial past Election Day this fall. The strategy paid off so much more than MAGAworld anticipated."
Rolling Stone's full report is here (subscription required).
