Former President Donald Trump’s attorney on Thursday argued that a president could order the assassination of his political rival and stage a military coup without being prosecuted for it.
Jack Sauer, Trump’s lawyer, made the “absolute immunity” argument in a Supreme Court hearing in the Department of Justice election interference case against the former president. Trump’s team has repeatedly claimed that the ex-president can’t be prosecuted for “official acts” he did while in office.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Sauer, “If the president decides that his rival is a corrupt person and he orders the military to assassinate him, is that within his official acts to which he has immunity?”
“That could well be an official act,” Sauer responded.
Sotomayor seemed taken aback at that line of reasoning.
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“How about if the president orders the military to stage a coup?” Kagan asked.
“I think it would depend on the circumstances,” Sauer said.
Indeed, and the legality has been challenged by the ACLU. Although they could not pursue to issue a condemnation.
The present case would be an excellent opportunity to resolve the question of whether or not a President is entitled to kill a US citizen and setup better checks and balances (because, in the case of Obama, there were definitely some, but those were disputable).
I appreciate the ACLU’s efforts, but it’s quite apparent that US presidents are above the law.