U.S. presidents cannot be prosecuted for selling pardons or assassinating political rivals through SEAL Team Six, personal Trump lawyer John Sauer argued Tuesday.

  • Sanctus@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    146
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    10 months ago

    Does Trump know this ruling could end with Biden legally ordering his assassination? His opponent is President right now.

    • formergijoe@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      40
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      I think Trump’s betting on the Supreme Court dragging their feet long enough to where Dark Brandon cannot Dark Brandon, but Trump can just assassinate anyone who says he can’t be a 3rd term president.

    • fosforus@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      34
      ·
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      The important question is, if this ruling goes through, will Biden understand the implications. And will he have enough balls to pull the trigger.

      Oh look at me, fantasizing about Biden murdering Trump. Oopsie!

      • dtc@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        21
        ·
        10 months ago

        Oopsie!

        No oopsie here, it’s double jeopardy after the GOP feigning victimhood for years on end. Play games, win prizes.

    • Asafum@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      10 months ago

      Oh come on now, we all know full well that there is an asterisk somewhere. The fine print reads “Republican presidents only. These special rules don’t apply to Democrats, they have harsher rules that aren’t written we just call them like referees when we see them.”

      • HRDS_654@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        10 months ago

        I mean, and this is all alleged mind you, Biden could use the threat to American democracy to assassinate Trump and there are many people who would be okay with that since Trump IS a threat to democracy.

  • Garbanzo@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    101
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    10 months ago

    Sounds like they’re telegraphing their plans for day one of Trump’s next administration.

    • Troy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      93
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      10 months ago

      When fascists say they’re going to do something, it’s probably a good idea to believe them. When they say they won’t do something, they’ll probably do that too.

  • gmtom@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    93
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    10 months ago

    MAGATS in 2016: “LMAO you’re such an over-reacting cry baby, its not like trump is actually a dictator or anything.”

    MAGATS in 2023: “Trump has the right to assassinate his political rivals without consequence.”

    • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.comOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      39
      ·
      10 months ago

      isnt it weird that trumps lawyers are going along with this…?? like i get that trump is a whacked out of his brain narcissist, but those lawyers have to go home and explain to their spouses that they just argued for King Trump being able to kill people. wtf

      • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        10 months ago

        isnt it weird that trumps lawyers are going along with this…??

        The only lawyers he can get are the ones stupid enough to work for Trump. Competent lawyers would require payment and for Trump to follow basic instructions like “don’t threaten witnesses, the judge, or opposing council.”

        This doesn’t surprise me at all.

      • Tyfud@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        10 months ago

        Criminals tend to use lawyers that skirt the laws a lot. E.g. like in Breaking Bad.

    • ours@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      10 months ago

      When Trump was president, he made it well known he was jealous of kings/dictators/autocrats and how they don’t need to fuss around too much with pesky concepts like democracy and separation of State powers.

    • TheJims@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      10 months ago

      They want us to believe that he’s infallible… like some kind of deity or messiah it’s just so fucking laughable. He doesn’t even try to argue his innocence anymore

    • deaf_fish@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      10 months ago

      Most of them don’t understand anything. They are just rooting for their team repeating what they think sounds smart.

      A few of them know that a president isn’t a king. But they don’t want a president. They want a king. And they don’t care how many people that hurts. As long as it makes them more powerful in the process. These are the guys that are feeding the “smart” sounding lines to the majority who are just supporting the team.

    • Oderus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      22
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      Biden should order Seal Team 6 to perform a mock execution on Trump to prove a point. Drastic yes but Trump would actually do it.

    • neptune@dmv.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      I personally propose that Harris initiate the slayings. Just to spice it all up a little bit.

    • Wiz@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      10 months ago

      “Are you guys arguing that Biden could legally assassinate Trump’s lawyers, and not be prosecuted?”

    • themelm@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      10 months ago

      I mean, I bet he could. Im glad he doesnt, but your presidential executive model of democracy seems to be more prone to presidential dictatorships than some of the other legislative models.

  • Gigan@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    51
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    10 months ago

    U.S. presidents cannot be prosecuted for selling pardons or assassinating political rivals through SEAL Team Six

    If that’s true, we should do something about it.

    • tacosanonymous@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      43
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      “Unless they’re impeached and convicted by the Senate.”

      Bc they know even Dems would convict Joe for murder but they would never do it to one of their own.

      GOP is going to coup the shit out of us in the near future.

      • gregorum@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        10 months ago

        the point they’re trying to make here is that, because Trump was acquitted by the Senate, this prosecution would amount to double jeopardy.

        • tacosanonymous@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          10 months ago

          They made that case because he wasn’t convicted. As a lawyer, you play as many cards as you have. They know it’s bs, we know it, and the judges know it too.

          I’m saying that if the argument worked, hypothetically, they would use it as bitch cudgel and a shield.

          • gregorum@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            10 months ago

            oh, sure. I’m not sayin their argument is valid, just why they made it.

    • benignintervention@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      10 months ago

      If I recall correctly, this would be an illegal order in violation of the Title 10 authorities which govern DoD activities if it took place within the borders of the country. I’m not a federal lawyer so I don’t know the details, but I believe it prohibits the armed forces operating under Title 10 from performing operations on U.S. soil. Title 18 however governs agencies like the FBI and allows operations within U.S. borders but prohibits foreign operations.

      This is all a vague memory from an old lesson, but at first glance the attorney’s argument is utter crap. It boils down to “no act of the president can be considered in violation of any law.” Not a comforting sentiment, and a dangerous precedent.

  • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    32
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    “Could a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival? That’s an official act–an order to Seal Team Six,” U.S. Circuit Judge Florence Pan asked Sauer.

    “He would have to be, and would speedily be, you know, impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution,” Sauer replied, setting a pre-condition for such prosecution in Pan’s hypothetical.

    I wonder if that’s true. Would a congress controlled by the Republican party of today really follow through with impeachment for that? I’m sure such a president would have all kinds of excuses as to why they had to do it and how their rival was a threat to national security etc etc that their followers would take at face value.

    • troglodytis@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      10 months ago

      Well, just kill the representatives and senators that won’t fall in line. According to Trump, it’s legal

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      10 months ago

      “He would have to be, and would speedily be, you know, impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution,” Sauer replied, setting a pre-condition for such prosecution in Pan’s hypothetical.

      Meanwhile, Republicans didn’t impeach him because “the courts should decide.”

      They’re trying to create Schrodinger’s Dictator.

    • Dippy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      10 months ago

      I don’t think any party would do it. To go further, why would any of them? When the votes become public knowledge from congress to impeach, what’s to stop the president ordering anyone who said yes from assassinating them before the senate goes for conviction?

      Either the president scares the senate away (in case they don’t convict and the president will know who said yes) or he goes to jail/is executed no matter how many they had killed.

      Even kill anyone you know will say yes before they vote to impeach. IMMUNITY!

  • ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    10 months ago

    It’s the hand these lawyers have been dealt to try to make this argument fly. They are duty bound to provide the best representation they can for their client, and if somehow this completely bonkers argument wins the day, I think that’s pretty much it for American democracy.

    Or Biden has all this on standby just in case…

    • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.comOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      27
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      10 months ago

      my favorite business teacher once told me almost no one has to do anything. we just need to accept the consequences of those actions… breathe/dont breathe… steal/dont steal.

      no one is holding a gun to these lawyers heads, are they? these arent ‘public defenders’ answering the call of their duty. these are private, douchebag lawyers who have chosen to be douchebags… correct me if im wrong.

      • CameronDev@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        18
        ·
        10 months ago

        Yeah, they can drop the client if they wanted to. And they probably should, they arent gonna get paid either way.

      • Bartlebad@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        10 months ago

        Same kind of thing was said by my Life Skills teacher in high school.

        “The only thing you HAVE to do in life is die.”

  • pacology@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    If you are a history buff, read up on the aventine secession on Wikipedia.

    The TL;DR is that in 1924 Giacomo Matteotti, a member of the house of representative who was outspoken against Mussolini, was killed and no charges were brought forward. That even is what transition Italy from a semi-working democracy to a one-party dictatorship.

        • Kiosade@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          10 months ago

          I hate that people are starting to actually use these censor-bypass words in real life… makes adults sound like children!

            • Patches@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              10 months ago

              People also say LOL instead of laughing. Kids are weird. I just hope it doesn’t go into the mainstream.

          • piecat@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            10 months ago

            So, kinda like how all slang and colloquial language sounds at first? Not like prefixes aren’t a part of our language either.

            Besides, there’s plenty of words that get changed or replaced because what society considers offensive changes.

            We don’t use “cripple”, “retard”, or many other words.

            In other news, unyoung man diswhispers at cloud

            • Kiosade@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              10 months ago

              I get what you’re saying, but in this case it just has this… dystopian corporate essence to it. Instead of getting off these shitty platforms that censor words and idea, people just find ways around the censors while still using the platform. Platform keeps making out like gangbusters, society gets dumbed down a little more. It kind of reminds me of what people in China have to do to talk shit about their govt without getting in trouble, which is… not the direction we should be going.

            • Kiosade@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              10 months ago

              Lol that’s more of a classic word filter bypass, but it was pretty funny

            • Kiosade@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              10 months ago

              (Panically empties gun at the general direction of where this gibberish came from)

      • boogetyboo@aussie.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        10 months ago

        I use swipe on my keyboard. It’s possible they do too and they meant to type murdered. The letters are pretty close.

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    There were some very questionable pardons - where is that investigation?

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_granted_executive_clemency_by_Donald_Trump

    the vast majority were to persons to whom Trump had a personal or political connection, or persons for whom executive clemency served a political goal.[2][3][5] A significant number had been convicted of fraud or public corruption.[6] The New York Times reported that during the closing days of the Trump presidency, individuals with access to the administration, such as former administration officials, were soliciting fees to lobby for presidential pardons

    Huh, he posthumously pardoned Susan B Anthony? I’ll give Trump credit for that.

    • nxdefiant@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      I don’t know if Susan b Anthony would be happy about being pardoned, let alone by him.

      also:

      “Soliciting fees to lobby” is some super human level mental gymnastics. It’s called bribery.

  • Sendbeer@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    10 months ago

    Works for Russia. Window sales going to see a surge if Trump gets elected.

  • Flex@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    10 months ago

    I guess in his mind we should be grateful he didn’t assassinate any rivals?

  • Coreidan@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    10 months ago

    Trump isnt saying these things because he believes it. He’s saying these things because he wants his fans to believe him.

    Last time he promoted J6. Now he’s promoting assassination.