Trump aide warns to take his argument about assassinating opponents 'extremely seriously'

Former President Donald Trump's attorney John Sauer appeared to suggest during oral arguments at the Supreme Court over presidential immunity, that under certain circumstances it could be considered an "official act" for the president to assassinate a political rival — an argument that echoes a claim he made before the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

This shouldn't just be thought of as an extreme hypothetical, warned Trump's former White House communications official Alyssa Farah Griffin in a post on X. Rather, it's something that should be taken at face value.

"I was in the Oval Office with Trump when he said a WH staffer he believed leaked an embarrassing story about him should be executed," wrote Griffin. "We may want to take this line of argument from Trump’s attorney extremely seriously."

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The former president and his close allies have frequently stirred up outrage for similar rhetoric in public. Most notably, Trump once suggested that Mark Milley, a retired general who served as his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, should be put to death for going behind his back to negotiate with China in his final days in office.

The Supreme Court appeared divided at the hearing on whether Trump could be held immune from prosecution by special counsel Jack Smith for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

There appeared to be a majority who agreed he wasn't universally immune, but plenty appeared to open the door to narrow the charges and the evidence that can be considered, by drawing a distinction between official acts and private acts and directing lower courts to review the finer points of the prosecution to only involve private acts — which could theoretically add months more delay to a case that is already facing difficulties in getting scheduled to move ahead before the election.