All posts tagged "Immunity"

The powerful Senate Judiciary Committee earned mixed reactions Thursday as it announced plans to review the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s ruling in former President Donald Trump's immunity case — with some saying it's "too little, too late."

Illinois Sen. Dick Durban (D), chairman of the panel, told HuffPost in a statement members will be hold a hearing — in September — at which they will "examine the breadth of future misconduct that may be immunized from prosecution, consider the unprecedented nature of this immunity in American history, and discuss legislative solutions to the dangers of this decision."

“The Senate Judiciary Committee will not tolerate these justices cherry-picking their way through text and history to impose their own extreme vision of presidential power on the American people,” Durbin said, saying Congress cannot turn a "blind-eye" to the high court's "dangerous decision" that "immunizes presidents who commit crimes."...

Donald Trump recently secured a delay in his sentencing so he could argue in court that his New York conviction should be voided based on the Supreme Court's recent immunity ruling, but one former prosecutor says Trump will not win that particular fight.

Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade appeared on MSNBC on Wednesday to discuss the former president and his ongoing efforts to undo a conviction by a jury of his peers in his own home state. The host asked her how Trump will fare in his efforts to undo his guilty verdicts.

"I don't think there is anything in this case, the payment of hush money to a porn star, the falsification of business records to conceal that, I don't think there is any way to characterize any of that as an official act that would be immune from prosecution," she said....

Although the US Supreme Court ruled in Donald Trump's favor Monday, deciding that the MAGA leader should be immune from federal prosecution when it comes to "official acts," one legal expert writes in a Thursday, July 3 op-ed published by CNN that the ruling is not the win many think it is for the former president.

Norman Eisen — a former White House ethics lawyer — argues, "Trump is not immune in his 34 felony convictions in Manhattan or the Georgia prosecution, and his current and coming efforts to invoke the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in both places will surely fail."

Eisen writes that in both the hush money case and Georgia case, "the alleged actions related to his campaign were purely personal and political and are clearly unofficial conduct not 'within the core of his official duties' as president."...

Former President Donald Trump's partial victory on presidential immunity at the Supreme Court did more than help him out on his legal problems, former Trump administration Justice Department officials warn — it could also embolden him to use the police state to crack down on his political enemies should he be elected.

Specifically, the Supreme Court determined Trump has a presumption of immunity for "official acts" but not "unofficial acts," while offering very little guidance on what the distinction between those is.

According to NBC News, a pair of former DOJ officials "said it would give Trump cover to improperly pressure the Justice Department for his own political benefit — to prosecute an enemy or go easy on an ally — by saying he was executing his official duties as president." One warned: “It gives him tacit approval to keep doing it. It sets him up to do the things he has said: to investigate people and send them to jail.”...

Donald Trump on Sunday gave a plea for the U.S. Supreme Court to gift him immunity for his alleged crimes.

The country's top court is expected on Monday to deliver the long-awaited answer to Trump's question about whether he can in fact be held accountable for any crimes whatsoever that occurred during his sole term as president. It's possible that the Supreme Court will "split the baby" by giving Trump limited immunity when actions are involving his official role as president, legal experts say.

As he awaited that decision over the weekend, Trump took to social media to repeat one of his most common requests: complete immunity. ...

Donald Trump on Wednesday had some very nice words specifically for the conservative members of the Supreme Court, leading some to say the former president is seeking their favor in his case seeking absolute immunity from all charges in the criminal case stemming from the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

"I want to thank the Supreme Court justices for having the courage Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett… for the wisdom and the courage to do this. This took a great deal of wisdom," Trump said at a rally on Wednesday while talking about the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

@BDeMayo wrote Wednesday, "Lmao all of them being like 'Please don't keep bringing that up.'" ...