Former President Donald Trump recently released a series of video posts in which he repeated his arguments regarding presidential immunity multiple times, as the Supreme Court prepares to hear his appeal.
The Supreme Court announced that it will hear arguments on April 25 about the extent of presidential immunity, seven weeks after a surprising appeals court hearing where Trump’s attorney argued that a president could order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival without facing prosecution unless impeached and convicted.
On Wednesday, Trump delivered a series of video statements, including two that seemed aimed at the conservative Supreme Court majority, many of whom he appointed.
In under two minutes, Trump reiterated several points: that presidents must have immunity (7 times), a president without immunity is powerless (10 times), and the founders intended for the president to have immunity (4 times). His argument was presented in a traditional “originalist” perspective.
One notable shift in these statements was Trump’s adjustment from previously asserting “absolute” or “total and complete” immunity to now advocating for “a strong form of immunity”:
DONALD TRUMP: The Supreme Court will address the historic question of presidential immunity. Without presidential immunity, the president cannot function, as his political opponents will blackmail and extort him with the threat of wrongful persecution at every turn, including when he leaves office.
They’re going to say, you don’t give us this, whether it’s for taxes or military or anything, we’re going to go get you because we’re allowed to now because you wouldn’t have immunity. We’re going to get you after you leave office.
It literally would be blackmail.
We look forward to presenting our case in the Supreme Court. It’s going to be one of the most important cases, because without presidential immunity, you have nothing! You don’t have a president. You have just a ceremonial position. And we can’t have that. A president has to be strong, has to be powerful, has to make good decisions.
But if you don’t have presidential immunity, if you don’t have a strong form of immunity, you’re not going to have anything. You’re not going to have a president that can function. It’s not going to work. It would never work.
Everybody assumes that a president has immunity. A president has to have immunity, or he cannot or she cannot function.
DONALD TRUMP: The president doesn’t have immunity, he or she will be nothing more than a ceremonial president, rarely having the courage to do what has to be done for our country and to make our country great again.
This is not what the founders had in mind at all. This is not what they wanted to think about. This is not where they wanted us to be.
The founders wanted the president to have immunity so the president can feel free to make decisions.
Hopefully they’ll be great decisions. But whether they are or not, a president of the United States has to have immunity. Thank you.
