Trump attorney John Sauer, arguing in front of the D.C. Court of Appeals in a hearing on the disgraced ex-president’s claims to have immunity from prosecution for crimes committed during his time in office, dropped the assassination attempt mulligan bombshell in questioning from Judge Florence Pan.
“Could a president who ordered Seal Team Six to assassinate a political rival, who was not impeached, would he be subject to criminal prosecution?” Pan asked Sauer, who had argued in a brief filed on Trump’s behalf in the case that communicating with an executive branch agency, communicating with a foreign government, and communicating with the U.S. military would all be considered official acts.
Sauer’s answer: “If he were impeached and convicted first,” which he called “a qualified yes.”
“There’s a political process that will have to occur under the structure of our Constitution, which would require impeachment and conviction by the Senate in these exceptional cases,” Sauer said.
Trump was impeached twice in his time in office, the first for abuse of power for pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to try to dig up dirt on Democratic rival Joe Biden that Trump could use in the 2020 election, the second for inciting an attempted coup on Jan. 6, 2021, to overturn the results of the election after Biden had been declared the landslide winner.
The Senate voted not guilty by a 52-48 vote in the Ukraine impeachment, and guilty by a 57-43 vote in the Jan. 6 attempted coup matter.
Per the Constitution, it takes a two-thirds vote of the Senate, so, at least 67, if all 100 senators cast a vote, to obtain a conviction.
By Sauer’s reasoning, Trump, as president, could order the military to assassinate a political rival, and if 34 Senate Republicans could be coaxed into voting not guilty, it’s all kosher.
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Chris Graham
