Presidential Immunity is similar to Qualified Immunity. It means that the individual was acting within the scope of their duty. And there is the problem for Trump. This has already been considered by the Courts and the Nation when Nixon was President. Trump has made these arguments to the Courts in both DC and New York. He argued that since the actions took place while he was President he can’t be prosecuted as he was immune.
The New York Case which as I’ve said before is the weakest. For that Trump was in the Oval Office when he caused false and fraudulent entries to be made in his corporate and private tax records. It is not within the scope of the Presidency to defraud the tax man from his fair share of the Presidents Money. That is clear. The reason I say it is weak is the Prosecutor Bragg has to link it to the effort to get elected and make that a felony effort to defraud the public.
It is a chain of crimes. It is what sunk the Brunswick Trio and let Rittenhouse go free. The chain was broken for Rittenhouse. It wasn’t in Brunswick.
I think Trumps lawyers have a fair chance of breaking that chain. Well let me rephrase that. I think that the Lawyers hired by Trump have a fair chance of breaking that chain if Trump will let them make the legal decisions and arguments.
Without that link, there is no case in New York.
There is nothing in the duties of a President that requires him to take that action. So immunity is not available.
Next. DC and Georgia. There is no part of the office of President that requires him to appoint fraudulent electors from a State. There is no part of it that allows him to have his campaign people threaten or offer immunity from prosecution to people.
The President may have to order things that would be illegal. However those things don’t include an effort to overturn the election in a State.
Trumps argument is basically the same as the one made by Nixon. If a President does it, then it is legal. The Courts already decided that wasn’t the case.
That is why Ford Pardoned Nixon as soon as he took office.
en.m.wikipedia.org
Ford understood that Nixon would be prosecuted and wanted the entire mess to just end.
Ford lost the election to Carter and that was understood to be partly to blame. The Public didn’t like the idea that a President who committed crimes would not be held accountable.
Now Federal Pardons, the kind done by a President, do not have any effect on State Charges, which brings up Georgia and New York.
Georgia has charged Trump under similar State charges that Trump was indicted for in DC. All of this makes sense if you remember that trials are to be held in the county where the offense took place by the Constitution. Trump held the documents in violation of the law in Florida. Trump made the calls, wrote the letters, and issued the instructions to overturn the Georgia Election in Washington DC. But the other end of those orders were in Fulton County Georgia.
The State can charge him without any violation of double jeopardy under State Law.
