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submitted 11 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

US presidents cannot be prosecuted for selling pardons or assassinating political rivals through SEAL Team Six, personal Trump lawyer John Sauer argued Tuesday

Advancing a sweeping interpretation of executive immunity, Donald Trump’s attorney told a federal appeals court on Tuesday that U.S. presidents could not be prosecuted for selling pardons or assassinating political rivals through SEAL Team Six.

Trump’s lead attorney D. John Sauer argued that only a president who has been impeached and removed from office in a Senate trial potentially would be subject to prosecution for those kinds of alleged crimes.

A three-judge panel appeared extremely skeptical of Trump’s vision of absolute immunity, sharply questioning and interrupting Sauer during the opening minutes of the oral arguments with the former president himself sitting nearby.

“Could a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival? That’s an official act–an order to Seal Team Six,” U.S. Circuit Judge Florence Pan asked Sauer.

“He would have to be, and would speedily be, you know, impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution,” Sauer replied, setting a pre-condition for such prosecution in Pan’s hypothetical.

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

This argument would, in fact, suggest that the president could order a judge assassinated. And I'm guessing the appeals court knows that.

[-] winky88@startrek.website 8 points 11 months ago

Like every other grand ol' projection, I believe this should be interpreted as a threat of things to come, not academic speculation.

this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2024
615 points (98.1% liked)

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