Former President Donald Trump's presidential immunity argument against special counsel Jack Smith's prosecution for January 6 is not just meritless, argued former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti on MSNBC Tuesday — it's also dangerous.
By the logic Trump has laid out, Mariotti told anchor Ari Melber, if Trump was elected to a second term, he could order the military to lock up Joe Biden, and then fabricate a way to excuse himself from any criminal investigation of his actions.
"When it comes to post-presidential immunity, it doesn't exist, period," said Melber, himself an attorney, as he reviewed Smith's newest filings against Trump's claims. "The Constitution specifically imagines a criminal president, and it does say you have to impeach him in office. It's complicated. If the DOJ was trying to try their own boss, that's complex for a four- or eight-year problem. I'm reading from [Smith's filing]: 'The Constitution explicitly provides for an impeached and convicted president's criminal prosecution for the same conduct.'"
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In other words, Melber added, Smith is pointing out that "you could be a strict textualist and you would still land on saying the Constitution literally writes out post-presidential prosecution."
"Absolutely," agreed Mariotti. "And you can see how measured Smith is being."
"Look at the alternative," Mariotti continued. "What Trump is trying to argue for is a get out of jail card as his right. It would essentially allow a president, as long as you could have some plausible connection to your official duties to say, hey, I'm going to order the military to go imprison my opponent."
"It's the sort of thing that you'd see in a horror movie, not the sort of thing you would actually want the President of the United States to do," Mariotti added.
Watch the video below or at the link.