Hayden on The Prez Immunity Decision

Veteran defense attorney Joe Hayden says that given the limitations Special Counsel Robert Mueller put on his testimony and the logistical challenges of the questioning, the House Judiciary Committee hearings accomplished as much as was realistically possible to inform the public and confirm the high points of the Mueller Report.

I just finished reading the full opinion and the Trump immunity case, and I believe it is even worse than reported: first of all, although the majority gives lip service to prosecuting private presidential acts, but not official acts, a good lawyer will be able to argue that anything done by a sitting president is an official act, and hence get a full hearing on that act prior to trial, which will be appealable prior to trial.

Secondly, the court ruled that evidence of official acts not only cannot be prosecuted, but such evidence cannot be used as background evidence in a prosecution of a crime for private acts. Given its complexity, the DC case could not be tried for a number of years because there will be further pre-the trial appeals. Moreover, the opinion will embolden the Florida federal judge to declare almost everything Trump did as an official act, and make that case  unprosecutable.

Moreover, the concurring decision by Judge Thomas raises questions as to whether or not the appointment of special counsel was illegal in the first place, which will probably cause the Florida federal judge to seriously consider making such a ruling dismissing the whole indictment or carving it up so much that the case cannot be tried. What this decision means for the state cases is hard to analyze, but the defense can tie the prosecution up in knots because of the legal complexities.

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One response to “Hayden on The Prez Immunity Decision”

  1. Concise and informative. Expert analysis from Joe raises points I couldn’t possibly think of myself and explains each one thoroughly. Great read.

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