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Rudy Giuliani is adamant that Donald Trump is simply unable to be prosecuted while serving as President of the United States. In Giuliani’s mind, even if he shot FBI Director James Comey—which, for Trump, would put a swifter end to the Russia investigation than firing Comey—he’d merely be impeached, and would only then, as a citizen, feasibly face prosecution for his actions.
According to an interview with HuffPost, Giuliani claims that only impeachment could legally bring Trump down—and that any arguably warranted prosecution resulting from Comey’s investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia’s U.S. election interference would have to first shift Trump from the Presidency to the status of a civilian. To do so, using Giuliani’s wildly disconcerting example, Trump would first have to shoot Comey, to then be impeached, and then be prosecuted for his actions.
“In no case can he be subpoenaed or indicted,” said Giuliani. “I don’t know how you can indict while he’s in office. No matter what it is.” While this is a pretty bold and inaccurate statement, Giuliani’s follow-up is even more alarming. “If he shot James Comey, he’d be impeached the next day,” he said. “Impeach him, and then you can do whatever you want to do to him.”
Giuliani is quick to maintain that the President’s constitutional powers protect him from all kinds of criminal prosecution or indictment by the intelligence community, but he is, of course, wrong. This kind of terribly uneducated—or worse, purposefully inaccurate—rhetoric by Trump’s attorneys might get past the casual TV viewer between commercials, but not Norm Eisen, White House ethics lawyer for the Obama administration.
“A president could not be prosecuted for murder? Really?” Eisen said. “It is one of many absurd positions that follow from their argument. It is self-evidently wrong. The foundation of America is that no person is above the law. A president can under extreme circumstances be indicted, but we’re facing extreme circumstances.”
Giuliani’s statements arrive one day after The New York Times discovered that Trump’s lawyers argued the following notion to special counsel Robert Mueller: Trump couldn’t possibly obstruct justice, ever, because he can shut any investigation down, at anytime, anyway.
READ MORE: Complex.com
Article Courtesy of Complex
First and Second Picture Courtesy of Brian Zak and Getty Images
