PDJT’s lawyer was asked about presidential immunity on Tuesday, by Federal Judge Florence Pan. The specifics of the question surrounded if President Trump could order SEAL Team Six to assassinate an American citizen and if Absolute Immunity would apply.
This question of immunity for actions taken as President is currently front and center to much of the lawfare that is being waged against PDJT. Now when we talk about absolute immunity, we are not talking about actions taken outside of his duties as President. Just those actions taken within his role as the unitary executive of our republic.
This was a gotcha question of course. It was designed to elicit headlines in the media about what a clear and present danger PDJT is. It already has seen the posting of ridiculous scenarios that are not part of a President’s responsibilities. The purpose here is to plant the idea in people’s minds that Trump is a murderer.
Was this done to provide cover for an assassination attempt on PDJT?
PDJT’s attorney was prepared to give a qualified yes to the hypothetical question. Again, this would be based the President acting within his responsibilities to the country. Trump’s lawyer gave an answer that was very important. He said the president had to be impeached and convicted by the Senate or else there is immunity for something like assassinating a rival. The Constitution provides the mechanism for convicting a rogue President.
Let’s look back at an example from our history. During the Civil War, thousands of US citizens were killed on Lincoln’s orders. Why? Because they were involved in a war of secession. Did Lincoln have immunity for ordering the actions that resulted in those deaths? While one might characterize the Confederates as insurrectionists (sound familiar?), they certainly were political rivals who disagreed with Lincoln.
Unfortunately, the attorney was cut off when he tried to bring up some real-world examples and bestow this on the judge.
Let’s look at one such modern-day example where absolute immunity was showcased.
On September 30, 2011, an American, Anwar Al-Awlaqi, was killed in Yemen by a US Government drone strike ordered by President Obama. The reasons given were that Al-Alwaqi , an Islamic scholar, was creating recruitment videos for jihadists.
This was an American citizen who was killed on orders of an American President. President Barack Obama had absolute immunity for ordering this intentional killing of an American citizen. You can find the legal analysis from the Justice Department Memo…Approving Targeted Killing of Anwar Al-Awlaki [HERE].
The SEAL Team musings of this Obama judge are irrelevant regarding the limits of Presidential immunity in this case. The attempt to broaden the question is poor jurisprudence, however deliberate and political. This is just more interference in our elections by judges who are supposed to know better.
Is there ANYTHING the President could do AS AN OFFICIAL ACT, that he could subsequently be arrested and charged for, without him being “covered” by immunity.
In my opinion the answer is NO, NOT any OFFICIAL act. In order to charge him in criminal court, he first would need to be Impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate. That did not happen.