Home / General / Trump will escalate his prosecution of rivals if he is re-elected

Trump will escalate his prosecution of rivals if he is re-elected

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In one of the most important passages in John Roberts v. US, I mean Trump v. US, Trump’s man in the Marble Palace held the following:

The indictment’s allegations that the requested investigations were “sham[s]” or proposed for an improper purpose do not divest the President of exclusive authority over the investigative and prosecutorial functions of the Justice Department and its officials. And the President cannot be prosecuted for conduct within his exclusive constitutional authority. Trump is therefore absolutely immune from prosecution for the alleged conduct involving his discussions with Justice Department officials.

The president, according to the Supreme Court, has absolute immunity for any discussions with Justice Department officials. To make an unoriginal observation, this attempt to defend the president from hypothetical arbitrary prosecutions makes political rivals of the president much more likely to be subject to arbitrary prosecutions: [gift link]

It has become commonplace for Donald Trump to talk about how he will use the Justice Department to punish his enemies should he regain the presidency. He routinely calls for prosecuting his current opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, and regularly accuses her and President Biden of weaponizing the Justice Department against him. Though there is no evidence that Biden or Harris had any involvement in the charges Trump faces, relating to the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents, he frequently asserts that these cases justify his plans for retribution.

Trump’s threats raise questions about what restraints could prevent him from following through. Since Watergate, when Richard Nixon resigned under threat of impeachment for meddling in an F.B.I. investigation, American presidents have taken pains to distance the White House from the Justice Department’s decisions about whom to investigate and prosecute. (The exception to this was Trump during his first term.)

But only norms and precedents, not laws, prevent this. In our system, the attorney general and the director of the F.B.I. sit within the executive branch and answer to the president.

How might a politically motivated prosecution actually unfold? The steps below show exactly how Trump could make his threats real — all while staying within the constitutional limits on presidential power.

Definitely worth reading — it’s a detailed and chilling road map. And note as well that this would be nothing new, just a ratcheting up of his behavior from his first term, and no knowing that is his legally speaking completely bulletproof.

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