- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Former President Trump’s legal team suggested Tuesday that even a president directing SEAL Team Six to kill a political opponent would be an action barred from prosecution given a former executive’s broad immunity to criminal prosecution.
The hypothetical was presented to Trump attorney John Sauer who answered with a “qualified yes” that a former president would be immune from prosecution on that matter or even on selling pardons.
You must log in or register to comment.
Sauer later argued the threat of prosecution could have a chilling effect on future presidents’ decisions, saying they would need to look over their shoulder and ask, “Am I going to jail for this?” when making controversial decisions.
That’s exactly the fucking point, you chode! The president should be weighing that consequence.
Reminds me of this:
My suggestion was quite simple: Put that needed code number [to launch a nuclear weapon] in a little capsule, and then implant that capsule right next to the heart of a volunteer. The volunteer would carry with him a big, heavy butcher knife as he accompanied the President. If ever the President wanted to fire nuclear weapons, the only way he could do so would be for him first, with his own hands, to kill one human being. The President says, “George, I’m sorry but tens of millions must die.” He has to look at someone and realize what death is—what an innocent death is. Blood on the White House carpet. It’s reality brought home.
When I suggested this to friends in the Pentagon they said, “My God, that’s terrible. Having to kill someone would distort the President’s judgment. He might never push the button.”
— Roger Fisher, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1981
I like this. It shows how dumb Republicans are.
They think criminals are logical people who weigh the consequences carefully and then decide to crime or not to crime.
I agree this is the point of a lot of our crime and punishment policy, but science has known for about fifty years that it isn’t true.
I don’t know, that’s a pretty subtle point, man. You think the average person can understand that? I mean, obviously even the former president can’t, and some call him the greatest president almost as much as he calls it himself.
Every alarm is going off, people. They are telling everyone exactly what they intend to do.
People just think Trump is a jokester.
I think it’s the dangerous side-effect of him being such a fake reality TV personality. He can say over the top insane things and people are already trained to not take him too seriously.
It’s part of the propaganda. Just look at all the right wing nuts around the world. They all follow the same guidbook
Project 2025. https://www.project2025.org/ and there is a lot more.
Fuck this Nazi and wannabe hitler 2.0
Wow what a website. I love how much they talk about the 180 day playbook but give absolutely zero mention to anything that is in it. I wonder why…
Sadly, conservatives are either too stupid to even understand, or it’s EXACTLY what they want.
There is no in between.
They’re thinking the leopards won’t be eating their faces.
I have nothing else to say to this man. This is one of those times where all the people outright calling him a Nazi were 100% correct.
Now I’m worried that he’s gonna turn the Navy SEALs into the modern day Gestapo.
The SEALs won’t put up with that shit. They have the same ability to tell their CO, “nope, that’s an unlawful order,” that the Nukes do. Difference is that the CO isn’t gonna try to force the SEAL to do shit.
Unless im mistaken every US soldier not only has the ability but the duty to refuse unlawful orders. ‘Just following orders’ is not acceptable in reducing any amount of personal fault iirc.
You’re correct, but Nukes get reminded about it constantly during training, cause of the reactor that we were expected to know everything about, and the officers don’t.
deleted by creator
This may stem from the fact that police forces are running around with, essentially, military hardware.
There is also a lack of oversight when employing this hardware.
Hell, a cop could unload a magazine at a child holding a stuffed toy, and just say he was scared, and get a month or longer off paid while the department “investigates” itself, and finds no wrong doing.
Police frequently go to the wrong house, and go in guns blazing on innocent sleeping people.
These are militaristic actions performed by a group of people who hire, in part, by the LACK of intelligence in their staff.
Yes, being too smart can disqualify you from police work.
So yes, they get conflated. Have a problem with that? Good, so do I.
Fuck it, require special training to carry a firearm on duty.
And that training shouldn’t include learned paranoia, like current training does.
The UK, as a middle ground for training requirements requires 2250 hours of training. Aren’t they known for carrying the frightfully lethal whistle? You know, the same basic kind that gym teachers and children’s sports coaches use?
US police require 672 hours. 3.35 (rounded) times LESS training than the UK police.
Source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/police-training-requirements-by-country
deleted by creator
Makes sense, highly specialized skills and labor like that typically sometimes get lost on those who are fit only to manage them and not do it themselves.
You only need a small fraction to agree.
There is a reason why the GOP has obstructed the top generals from nominations.
They need only one on the top. Anymore is a bonus.
The SEALs won’t put up with that shit.
The SEALs will line up single file while backslapping and ho-raying, then get into the helicopter that crashes six miles outside of the drop zone. They’re a bunch of juiced up twenty-year-olds with silver stars in their eyes. They’ll fall over themselves for the opportunity to do something recklessly stupid.
Difference is that the CO isn’t gonna try to force the SEAL to do shit.
How many Michael Flynns do you think are bouncing around the US military? More than enough to find someone willing to bite.
I was worried the same way about Blackwater / Academi last time around.
A week ago, we were half jokingly saying that if their arguments were valid, Biden could straight up shoot Trump at the first debate, say “Presidential Immunity, fucker”, and walk off the stage. The judge then asks a Trump lawyer about a similar hypothetical, and the idiot actually says yeah, that’s fine.
Because he’s calling their bluff. Go ahead, feel free to take the shot. We all know Biden doesn’t have that set on him. The Dems lack the Allen Dulles energy that’ll put two in the head of the opposition’s front runner from the sixth floor of Dealey Plaza.
If Biden was the kind of guy who would walk onto the debate stage with a shootgun that had “Executive Immunity” etched into it, maybe he wouldn’t. But that’s more of a Ted Cruz / Lauren Boebert move. Biden will do a TikTok where he calls Trump a hypocrite, right before his DOJ drops another ten indictments nobody thinks will ever see the inside of a courtroom.
A bold claim for the obnoxious rival of the president, but okay bet.
Right. This is seriously the only thing I thought of.
Like you are arguing it’s ok for the sitting president to murder his opponent.
You are not the sitting president. You are the current opponent.
Seems like a fucking weird taunt.
Hehehehehehehehehehe
Oh man, I hope he thinks he can assassinate Biden and then claim since the election was faked he’s been president all along and then trot out this immunity crap. Course he couldn’t run for president again, then, so he’ll have to declare himself president for life, and all the republicans will cheer, cheer, cheer because they won democracy.
Remember when the maga clowns’ favourite insult for Obama was “King Obama” because of some perceived presidential overreach issues? If they had any moral integrity, pointing out these double standards would make them think.
sweet deal, where can I get this insurance?
Please be the onion
The scary part of all these kinds of arguments are that if they were somehow successful and got a court to uphold this as valid/law, imagine the next sweet talking purely evil piece of shit having power cart blanch, anything goes. These “religious” assholes alone could probably think of stuff that would make Hitler blush.
Yeah. There’s a reason most of the world rebelled and moved away from monarchies and other totalitarian governments.
So do the secret service for Biden have to follow up on this? This idiot confuses me.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The hypothetical was presented to Trump attorney John Sauer who answered with a “qualified yes” that a former president would be immune from prosecution on that matter or even on selling pardons.
In the hearing that reviewed a motion from Trump’s team to toss his election interference charges, Sauer argued that presidents can only be criminally prosecuted if they have already been tried and convicted by the Senate.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media at a Washington hotel, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, after attending a hearing before the D.C.
Judge Michelle Childs, a Biden appointee, noted that a president could resign rather than face impeachment, something that under the framework of Trump’s attorneys would allow them to dodge future prosecution.
James Pearce, a lawyer with Smith’s office, forcefully pushed back against the notion that mechanisms to hold presidents accountable for criminal actions should be weakened.
“What kind of world are we living in … if a president orders his SEAL team to murder a political rival and then resigns or is not impeached — that is not a crime?
The original article contains 410 words, the summary contains 181 words. Saved 56%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I’m sure they’ll argue it’s in the constitution
They are making this argument, knowing the logical consequences. They are also counting on Biden being an actual human being instead of the steaming pile their client is.
They are also praying to their god that the Appellate Court has no knowledge of the “color of office” argument. Assassinations of US citizens is most definitely beyond the scope of presidential duties, and to accept otherwise is to accept that the president is a king.
I agree completely… that said, not to be that guy, but didn’t Obama drone strike one or two American citizens while in power?
He killed four. Three were accidental, one was a literal terrorist helping to plan attacks on American targets. None were on American soil.
I’m undecided if the terrorist one deserves the rights awarded by the fifth amendment, but as for the other three, it’s not like he went out of his way to target them.
Trump’s lawyers, on the other hand, are essentially arguing that the president can do what he wants to whomever he wants, even on American soil. It’s like it’s straight from Putin’s mouth.
I mean it probably is from Putin’s mouth, only via Trump.
I mean…bet.
