The Sweeping Implications of Trump’s Presidential Immunity Case

Welcome to Crossroads. In today's episode, we'll be talking about how the decision on Trump's presidential immunity, how it can have a real sweeping impact on all the other charges, the Jan 6 cases, and possibly even on some former presidents. Also, there's a campaign right now that could remove Joe Biden from the ballot using guess what? Well, the 25th Amendment. Mental fitness. We'll be going into all this. First, Special Counsel Jack Smith wants the D.C. Appeals Court to not hear of any motions and to drop any decisions on whether President Donald Trump had presidential immunity for the Jan 6 case. And this could actually have a sweeping impact not only on the many criminal charges against Trump, but also on potential future charges against President Joe Biden and many other former presidents. This is currently going to the U.S. Appeals Court in D.C. And oral arguments on the case, while they're set for Jan 9, meaning this is all moving through right now, it seems like regardless of this, the Appeals Court decision with all that, it's either going to lose, either losing side, really, in this case, is going to try to bring the case to the Supreme Court. And so it looks like this all go to the Supreme Court is inevitable at this point. Now, first off, let me show you Special Counsel Jack Smith's claim. Here's what he wrote in the filing. He said this. For the first time in our nation's history, a grand jury has charged a former president, it's his grand jury, by the way, has charged a former president with committing crimes while in office to overturn an election that he lost. In response, the defendant claims that to protect the institution of the presidency, he must be cloaked with absolute immunity from criminal prosecution unless the House impeached and the Senate convicted him for the same conduct. He is wrong, according to Jack Smith. Jack Smith says separation of power principles, constitutional text, history, and precedent all make clear that a former president may be prosecuted for criminal acts he commits while in office, including most critically here, illegal acts to remain in power despite losing an election. Now, look, all this is debatable. Personally, I'd say a lot of what Smith said in there isn't totally true. But of course, the Supreme Court is going to be the one to decide all this and appeals courts before that. Smith has been saying basically that presidential immunity is more just on civil matters and does not apply to more serious crimes. That's the general suggestion. And he's suggesting, of course, that it's not just for the Senate to hear, it's not just for the Supreme Court to hear, and so on like that. He's saying that even a grand jury brought by a special counsel like him could just make this kind of determination. Now, personally, I'd say if this were the case, if a president was just, you know, only had immunity when it came to civil matters, then a president's ability to pardon criminals would also be limited to just civil matters and not to more serious crimes like Smith suggests. And remember, you had like Obama pardoning major criminals, including terrorists who killed police officers like the Weather Underground. Now, Trump has been challenging the disputes on his presidential immunity. I'll be talking more about this and the deeper implications of what it means if he doesn't have immunity, especially to Biden. I'll also be giving updates on the Trump ballot disqualification case in Maine and the campaign to remove Biden from the ballot using the 25th Amendment. But all this is going to be after the jump to Epic TV. Before we jump, we have a new documentary coming out. It's The Real Story of January 6, Part 2. It's going to be coming out this Saturday on January 6. It's going to be very big. I think it's going to have just as much of an impact as the first one we did. Be sure you don't miss out on this. The link to that is in the description below and in the live chat. Let me show you. The biggest investigation in FBI history. More than 1,100 arrests. I sacrificed my dream job to share this information with the American people. Those involved must be held accountable. He's an innocent man. It's going to change narratives no matter what your political perspective is. Now, Trump has been challenging the disputes on his presidential immunity. And Trump is also noting the deeper implications of what it means if he does not have immunity.