A lawyer representing former President Donald Trump argued on Tuesday that a president cannot be prosecuted for ordering the assassination of his political rival unless he is convicted of committing an impeachable offense by the United States Senate.
During questioning before an appeals court, Trump lawyer John Sauer was asked by Judge Florence Y. Pan point-blank if he believed that an impeachment and conviction in the United States Senate would be necessary before prosecuting a president for ordering the military to murder an opponent, and he affirmed that was the case.
Most legal scholars have argued that the United States Constitution makes clear that impeachment is a political and not a legal process.
Therefore, a president who is impeached and removed from office is not therefore also per se convicted criminally, as a separate trial to determine criminality would be necessary should the government decide to press charges against him.
In justifying his vote to acquit Trump in the United States Senate after his second impeachment trial, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and several other Republican senators argued that the criminal justice system would be the proper place to hold Trump accountable for any crimes he committed related to the deadly riots he incited at the United States Capitol building.
