Trump attorney at SCOTUS immunity hearing: President ordering a political assassination “could well be an official act.”
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An attorney for Donald Trump argued at his criminal immunity hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday that a president ordering a political assassination “could well be an official act” that is immune from prosecution.
“If the president decides that his rival is a corrupt person, and he orders the military or orders someone to assassinate him, is that within his official acts for which he can get immunity?” liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Trump attorney D. John Sauer.
“It would depend on the hypothetical, but we can see that could well be an official act,” Sauer said.
Sotomayor: “It could, and why? Because he's doing it for personal reasons. He's not doing it, like President Obama is alleged to have done it, to protect the country from a terrorist. He's doing it for personal gain. And isn't that the nature of the allegations here, that he's not doing … these acts in furtherance of an official responsibility? He's doing it for personal gain.”
Sauer: “I agree with that characterization in the indictment, and that confirms immunity. Because the characterization is that there's a series of official acts that were done for an unlawful purpose.”
Sotomayor: “No, because immunity says even if you did it for personal gain, we won't hold you responsible. … How could that be?”
The U.S. Supreme Court was hearing arguments on whether Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for acts while he was president. If justices end up ruling in his favor — which is viewed as unlikely — his federal criminal cases would end.
But it’s not clear if justices will come to a quick ruling: Several conservative justices Thursday questioned what the future consequences could be if presidents don’t have criminal immunity. If the justices don’t quickly issue a ruling, it is less likely that the federal election interference trial against Trump, which is currently frozen, would reach a verdict before Election Day in November.
