Lawyers: Presidents could use immunity to assassinate rivals

Economy crash would be boost for Don election bid

DONALD Trump’s lawyers have argued presidents could assassinate their political rivals with immunity, a court has been told.

Attorneys for the former US leader appeared before judges in Washington DC to claim he was unable to be prosecuted for plotting to overturn the 2020 election because he was still in power.

But the panel expressed deep scepticism at the claim. Trump lawyer John Sauer said yesterday that a president who ordered the military to assassinate a political rival or sold pardons to criminals could only be prosecuted if they are first impeached and convicted by Congress.

Appeals Court Judge Florence Pan posed the hypothetical questions to test the lawyer’s immunity argument.

“Could a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival? That is an official act, an order to SEAL Team Six,” Pan said.

“He would have to be, and would speedily be impeached and convicted before the

Donald Trump

FORMER President Donald Trump hopes for the US economy to take a tumble in the next year, aiming to increase his likelihood of a comeback in the forthcoming elections.

He said: “When there’s a crash, I criminal prosecution,” Sauer said.

“I asked a yes or no question,” Pan said.

“If he were impeached and convicted first,” Sauer replied.

“So your answer is no,” Pan hope it’s going to be during these next 12 months, because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover,” referring to the president of the Great Depression.

Trump drew a contrast between himself and Hoover, who failed to get reelected. On Fox Business, he said: said. Sauer responded, “My answer is qualified yes. There is a political process that would have to occur.”

Trump has been charged with trying to criminally overturn the election which he lost to Joe Biden.

The three judges also questioned

“We have an economy that is incredible. We have an economy that is so fragile.

“And the only reason it’s running now is it’s running off the fumes of what we did – what the Trump administration did.” whether they had jurisdiction to consider the appeal at this point in the case, raising the prospect that Trump’s effort could be dismissed.

In lengthy arguments, the judges pressed the businessman’s lawyer to defend claims he was protected from criminal charges for acts his lawyer says fell within his official duties as president.

The argument was rejected month by a lower-court judge.

Trump’s appeal is vital to his strategy of trying to postpone the case until after the November election when a victory could empower him to order the Justice Department to abandon the prosecution or even to seek a pardon for himself.

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