Former President Donald Trump's attorney crashed and burned trying to convince the D.C. Circuit appellate judges that former President Donald Trump has absolute immunity from being prosecuted in the federal election conspiracy case, former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams said during a panel on Tuesday.
In particular, said Williams, lawyer John Sauer blew his case when he told the judges that Trump could order the military assassination of a political opponent, and that wouldn't be a prosecutable offense unless he was already impeached for it.
"I want to start with this idea the president is immune from any charges related to official duties, including carrying out an assassination against a political rival, unless the president was ... impeached by Congress first," said anchor Pamela Brown. "Is this anything different from a legal perspective?"
"Not at all," said Elliot Williams. "I have been a lawyer for a while. That was the moment when you said, wow, you have lost these judges. I don't think Donald Trump's team is getting them back."
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"There is a really good argument made that looking back at President Ford and Nixon, this idea that Ford had to pardon Nixon after his crimes, inherently means that there has been another recognition before, that a president can be held accountable for crimes," Williams continued. "If that was the case, Ford need to pardon Nixon."
"This whole idea that there is the spirit of conduct, that he is immune, is ludicrous," he added. "He really picked on it. He didn't have an answer for it. He cannot credibly say that a president can call in a drone strike against a political candidate, and not face political accountability for it. I think that is where they lost."
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