Donald Trump came to D.C. federal court on Tuesday to see with his own eyes if the judges' hatred of him will trump the Constitution. Now that's a gutsy move. He watched with interest as a member of a three-judge panel accepted the prosecution's outrageous talking point and wildly speculated whether a president could send SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political opponent and still have immunity.
The issue in the hearing is whether Trump enjoys presidential immunity for his actions on and around Jan. 6, 2021, in the federal election interference case against him. Federal prosecutor Jack Smith hoped he could convince a three-judge panel Tuesday that former President Trump is so satanic, fascist, and awful that tossing out Constitutional separation of powers and immunity must be a godsend to get rid of this man.
Don't believe me? Judge Florence Pan took Jack Smith's over-the-top rantings in a pre-hearing brief and posed an outrageous hypothetical to Trump's attorney John Sauer of the Thomas More Law Center. Judge Pan hypothesized if Trump could be immune from prosecution if he — and we're not making this up — sent SEAL Team 6 to kill a political opponent.
Related: The Feds' Pet J6 Protester, Ray Epps, Is Sentenced. You'll Want to Sit Down for This.
Sauer said that it was a "qualified yes" to that answer but that separation of powers, Marbury v Madison, impeachment doctrine, argued against ever having to answer the question. And then he gave a couple of examples from real life.
If I may, to authorize the prosecution of a president for his official acts would open a Pandora's Box from which this nation may never recover. Could George W. Bush be prosecuted for obstruction of an official proceeding for allegedly giving false information to Congress to induce the nation to go to war in Iraq under false pretenses? Could President Obama be potentially charged with murder for allegedly authorizing drone strikes targeting U.S. citizens located abroad?
Here's the recording of the colloquy:
Judge Pan: Could a president who ordered SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, who was not impeached, would he be subject to a criminal prosecution?
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 9, 2024
John Sauer: If he were impeached and convicted first.
Pan: So, your answer is no?
Sauer: My answer is qualified yes. pic.twitter.com/cAiunKxOwl
Sauer replied to Pan's insistence that if he "concedes that presidents can be prosecuted under some circumstances [that] your separation of powers argument falls away." After "respectfully disagreeing," Sauer said there's strong principle written into the Constitution and underlined by Justice Marshall and precedent that there must first be a successful impeachment.
Related: West Coast, Messed Coast™ — 'Save Democracy' Crowd Sues to Stop Oregon Voters From Choosing Trump
And then an exercised Sauer told Pan, "I think that has no basis in the context of the current prosecution with the current [president] is prosecuting his number one political opponent and his greatest electoral threat..."
Special Counsel Jack Smith's proxy, James Pearce, argued that a president is not above the law hoping that the judges would ignore the fact that they were in a courtroom where he was prosecuting a former president.
He argued that some of Trump's behaviors they're prosecuting occurred after he was president. By that he means Trump speaking, arguing, and legally fighting.
One judge asked Pearce "How do we write an opinion that would stop the floodgates? Your predecessors in their OLC (Office of Legal Counsel) recognized that criminal liability would be unavoidable."
Pearce hummana-hummnaed and admitted that impeachment was the political process by which a president would be held accountable. But he said, "There is a legal process. ...We are talking about prosecutors who follow strict codes and presumed to act with regularity... grand juries... and this Article III Court."
Gee, I think we should take our chances on the Constitution instead of the fanciful good intentions of Washington, D.C. swamp rats bastardizing the legal system, but maybe that's just me.
Pearce argued, "The fact that this investigation did, doesn't reflect that we're going to see a change in vindictive prosecutions in the future." Is this an admission of guilt by the Special Counsel or something?
Then he argued that Trump is so uniquely contemptible that the court should throw caution to the wind and change the rules. Well, here's how he said it: "Never before has there been allegations that a sitting president has, with private individuals, and using levers of power, sought to fundamentally subvert the democratic republic and electoral system. And if that pattern arises again, I think it would be awfully scary if there weren't some mechanism by which to reach that criminally."
That's a man who wants to change the rules to reach a political decision for the Democrats because it's scary out there.
Related: 'Missing' Melania Stories Confirm Pundit's Advice: Former First Lady Is Key to Trump Win in 2024
The fact that no one could be heard laughing in the background is a testament to one of two things — the TDS suffered by the audience or the fact that Trump supporters didn't want to get kicked out of the courtroom.
Here's the left's hated criminal who tried to stir up the worst planned insurrection in the history of insurrections telling people to go home.
When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.
— Richard (@ricwe123) December 22, 2023
Twitter 1.0 deleted this video from President Trump’s account, on January 6th 2021. pic.twitter.com/PHsp3jOPwL
Personally, I think the president waited too long to give this admonition but <checks notes> it's not against the law.
Is speaking out and using the legal system to fight what Trump thinks is a rigged election a prosecutable offense?
The D.C. Circuit Court will let us know if its hatred of him trumps the Constitution.
The left has pushed the former president into federal court to argue that he can't speak freely about what he believes is a rigged 2020 election. Imagine what they'll do to us.
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