It has come to light that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday opined that former President Donald Trump’s legal arguments that he is immune from prosecution is legitimate via Epoch Times.
The longtime senator was asked during a CBS News interview on Sunday on whether he stands by a 2021 comment that President Trump could be prosecuted because, according to the statement, “the president’s conduct is subject to the law of the land.”
“It depends on what the conduct is,” Mr. Graham said in response.
President Trump was charged with four counts by special counsel Jack Smith earlier this year, charging him with working to illegally overturn the 2020 election. The former president’s lawyers have argued that President Trump was the commander-in-chief at the time and was acting in his capacity as president, meaning he’s immune from prosecution.
Mr. Graham then defended President Trump, saying he gave a “fiery speech” on Jan. 6, 2021, and didn’t play much of a role during the breach of the Capitol that day.
“They’re prosecuting him for activity around January the sixth. He didn’t break into the Capitol. He gave a fiery speech, but he’s not the first guy to ever do that,” Mr. Graham said. “So at the end of the day, I think this case will not go to trial before the election. I think there are more legal issues around this than you can even imagine about—what can a president do as president? What are the limitations of being president?”
An official does “have presidential immunity to do your job. I mean, I have immunity to do my job under the Speech and Debate Clause,” he explained. “That’s what the legal issue is.”
“This went before the nation through impeachment, and he got acquitted. I think January 6 is baked into the cake. I think the Jack Smith cases are not changing the political outcome in polling. We’ll see what the court does,“ the senator said. ”At the end of the day, Donald Trump is in a good position to win the Republican primary because Republicans believe he had a good presidency, and I think he can win the general election.”
The presidential immunity question was appealed before the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month by the Smith team, but the justices declined to fast-track a review of the case.
