Hi everyone it's 4 o'clock in New York I'm Ali Velshi in for

Nicole Wallace the question of whether the rule of law extends to everyone in

the country including a former president was the subject of a

high stakes and pivotal hearing today in a federal courthouse in Washington DC.

Attorneys for Donald Trump and federal prosecutors argued over Trump's claim that the federal election case

against him should be dismissed because everything he did in the post-election

period was in his official capacity as president.

The three judge panel that is hearing the case appeared skeptical of that claim.

Both the ex president and the special counsel, Jack Smith, were in the courtroom today.

Trump has been claiming that President Joe Biden has been forcing him to appear in court,

which is not true.

He did have no obligation to appear at today's hearing and there's nothing to suggest that

his prosecution by the Special

Council is politically motivated. Trump's attorney, John Sauer, argued that allowing

the prosecution of Donald Trump would quote, open a Pandora's box.

But the judges pushed back on that

and many of the arguments he was making.

Trump's lawyer also argued that the president

could only be prosecuted if he was impeached and convicted by the Senate first, no matter what he did, no

matter how criminal his conduct was.

Listen to this exchange with Judge Florence Pan, who makes a reference to Seal Team Six.

Could a president who ordered Seal Team Six to assassinate a political rival who was not impeached.

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