(HorizonPost.com) – Eric Trump on Sunday claimed that if the Supreme Court did not side with his father and rule that former presidents have “absolute immunity,” prosecutors would target “every single president.”
In an interview on “Sunday Morning Futures,” the former president’s son echoed his father’s claim that without absolute presidential immunity, other former presidents, including Barack Obama and George W. Bush could be prosecuted for actions taken while they were in office.
Eric Trump suggested that Obama could be prosecuted for such scandals as Fast and Furious, the operation to supply firearms to Mexican drug cartels, or the IRS targeting of conservative groups.
He also claimed that unless the Supreme Court agreed with the defense, George W. Bush could be prosecuted for lying about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction.
During oral arguments before the Supreme Court last Thursday, the justices appeared to side with prosecutors that former presidents do not have blanket immunity from criminal prosecution, with conservative justices more concerned about how a decision would affect future presidents than they were about how it affected Trump. Liberal justices voiced concern that Trump’s idea of absolute immunity would create a “lawless King.”
In making his slippery slope argument, Eric Trump claimed that the only people who would win if the Supreme Court did not grant absolute immunity to a president would be Washington lawyers.
He also claimed that prosecutors might go after President Biden after he leaves office.
The younger Trump insisted that every president must have absolute immunity or else their time as president would be spent dealing with depositions and subpoenas. Describing the prosecution of his father as “legal lawfare,” Eric claimed that the only way the president could function would be if he was fully immune from prosecution.
It is unclear when the Supreme Court will issue its decision on the immunity question. At the latest, the ruling would come no later than June when the current Supreme Court term ends.
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