Former President Donald Trump stressed the importance of presidential immunity, arguing that stripping the protection would prevent future presidents from being “able to do anything.”
“The President of the United States — and I’m not talking about myself, any president — has to have immunity,” Trump told Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Thursday. “You take immunity from the president, so important, you will have a president that’s not going to be able to do anything. Because when he leaves office, the opposing party president, will indict the president for doing something that should have been good.”
(Video: Fox News)
As BizPac Review reported, the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a petition from special counsel Jack Smith on questions of the president’s asserted immunity.
Smith “leapfrogged past the appellate court’s submitting a petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court on the question of whether or not Trump was immune from federal prosecution for any alleged crime that may have been committed during his tenure as president, specifically regarding the alleged attempt to obstruct certification of the 2020 presidential election.”
On “Hannity,” Trump pointed to former President Barack Obama’s deadly use of “missiles.”
“Obama dropped missiles and they ended up hitting a kindergartner or a school, an apartment house. A lot of people were killed,” he noted. “Well, if that’s the case, he’s going to end up being indicted when he leaves office.”
“He meant well,” the GOP frontrunner said. “The missile went in the wrong direction.”
Trump suggested that “incompetent” President Joe Biden had better hope presidential immunity is upheld.
“He’s killed our country with his policies,” he said. “The border is a disaster. Everything he does is a disaster. What he did in Afghanistan is the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country, giving them $85 billion of equipment, killing our soldiers, wounding horribly our soldiers, and leaving people behind.”
“Well, when he leaves office, if he doesn’t have immunity — now, I think it’s horrible what he did, but he probably, I don’t know, it’s hard to believe, but he probably meant well,” he continued. “It’s hard to believe that he meant well, but the man is incompetent.”
“But you have to leave immunity with a president,” Trump stated. “If a president is afraid to act because they are worried about being indicted when they leave office– a president of the United States has to have immunity, and the Supreme Court is going to be ruling on that. If they don’t have immunity, no president is going to act. You’re going to have guys who just sit in office and are afraid to do anything.”
On X, some are already demanding that Obama be next should Trump lose his immunity case.
“If Trump loses his case for presidential immunity then I look forward to every leftist anti war and right wing anti war group protesting for Obama to be locked up over killing Abdulrahman al-Awlaki,” wrote political commentator Tim Pool on X.
“Or that time he did a war crime,” added another user.
Or that time he did a war crime. pic.twitter.com/kRCk1McM7q
— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) January 18, 2024
“Sure let’s do accountability,” agreed one user. “Both sides tho.”
Sure let’s do accountability. Both sides tho.
— An Hungarian Goose (@AnHungarianGoos) January 18, 2024
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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