Former President Donald Trump included a reference to pedophile priest scandals in the Catholic Church during a recent rally in Rochester, New Hampshire, to argue in favor of complete presidential immunity. Trump, in his speech, claimed “ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY” and mentioned a scenario where FBI agents might raid Mar-a-Lago, indicting a former president.
He argued that once a former president is indicted, the gloves are off, and immunity for a president is essential to allow them to function. Trump drew an analogy between providing immunity to a president and the police, suggesting that just as a few rogue cops or bad apples exist, the same is true in other institutions, including the church.
Trump then connected the issue of presidential immunity to the ability of a president to make decisions, citing examples like Harry Truman’s decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Barack Obama’s missile strikes during his term. He contended that without immunity, a president would be hesitant to act for fear of facing indictments once out of office.
The former president concluded that immunity is necessary to prevent the opposing party from constantly indicting a president once they leave the White House, as it would diminish the power of the presidency. Trump’s argument for presidential immunity has been a recurring theme in his speeches, particularly as he faces legal challenges and investigations.
DONALD TRUMP: FBI agents raiding Mar-A-Lago. But think of it. He indicted a former president of the United States. Once that happened. Thank you. I agree not. Thank you.
But once that happened, it was like the gloves are off because that’s the worst thing. It’s not even possible.
Many presidents leave and there are things you can go after. And frankly, to be honest, that’s one of the reasons the Supreme Court is looking now at immunity. You have to have guaranteed immunity for a president. Otherwise the president’s not going to be able to function. They’re not going to move.
Harry Truman would not have done. Harry Truman would not have done Hiroshima and Nagasaki, probably ended the war. Probably. I think so. But he wouldn’t have done it. So many things wouldn’t be done.
But think of it. Barack Obama shot missiles during his term, shot missiles into an area, killed a lot of people, they missed. I mean, does that mean you indict him when he gets out of office?
Well, (laughs) she goes, “It does!”
But, you know, you have to allow a president to do his job. They’ll make decisions. And, you know, it’s like the police. I say we have to give the police back their power. We’re not going to have any crime, but we protect. What we do. I mean, to me, it’s the best analogy. And the our, our Democrat run cities are dens of horrible crime right now…
But but it’s a little bit like the police. So you have a rogue cop. You know what a rogue cop is? Very seldom. But you have s-bad people. You have people no matter where, no matter what.
In the church, you have some people that aren’t so good, right?
But you have peop– a rogue cop or a bad apple or whatever.
And what they do is they make it so that you catch– so that it can’t happen, and therefore everyone else is allowed to commit crimes, murders like at levels that we’ve never seen before.
No, we’re going to have to do this, immunity for the president. If you have a president that doesn’t have immunity, he’s never going to be free to do anything because the opposing party will always indict him as soon as he leaves the White House.
CROWD MEMBER: Right!
DONALD TRUMP: And you can’t let that happen. You can’t. You take away all of the power of the presidency. It’ll be a different country. So hopefully the decision will be a correct one, hopefully, because.
