Why can't a president be indicted?

[Underseer]

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion...prosecution/6Byq7Qw6TeJlPVUhlgABPM/story.html

[YOUTUBE]UpyuJEczZH4[/YOUTUBE]

I can't imagine that the framers wanted the president to be above the law. There is not one thing in the constitution that formally makes the president immune from indictment.

Further, presidents could use various resign-and-get-pardoned-by-your-successor schemes such as what Nixon did, and simply indicting and convicting them while in office would make such schemes harder.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Well, Rosenstein's appointment mandate explicitly (and broadly) affirms:

If the Special Counsel believes it is necessary and appropriate, the Special Counsel is authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters.

It doesn't say, "except when it comes to the President." And Rosenstein has cryptically stated:

The Justice Department regulations governing the appointment of a special counsel says he or she “shall comply with the rules, regulations, procedures, practices and policies of the Department of Justice” — but there’s an exception for “extraordinary circumstances.”

In those cases, the special counsel would have to consult directly with the attorney general. Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions is recused from the Russia investigation, this means Mueller would have to consult with Rosenstein if he encountered “extraordinary circumstances” that prevented him from following the Justice Department’s “rules, regulations, procedures, practices [or] policies.”

“I’m not going to answer this in the context of any current matters, so you shouldn’t draw any inference about it,” Rosenstein said in a Freedom Forum interview May 1. “But the Department of Justice has in the past, when the issue arose, has opined that a sitting president cannot be indicted. There’s been a lot of speculation in the media about this. I just don’t have anything more to say about it.”

So this would better explain why Trump fired Sessions the day after the House fell on his ruby slippers.

The point being, however, that Rosenstein's language certainly makes it seem as if what's past is not necessarily prologue. "Opined" in particular is a carefully chosen word--as opposed to something more definite, like "set the precedent" or "guideline" etc--intimating merely that, in the past, there have been some opinions on the matter from other people, but that does not necessarily mean those opinions are relevant to current circumstances.

 

[ZiprHead]

Can the President Be Indicted? A Long-Hidden Legal Memo Says Yesl

“It is proper, constitutional, and legal for a federal grand jury to indict a sitting president for serious criminal acts that are not part of, and are contrary to, the president’s official duties,” the Starr office memo concludes. “In this country, no one, even President Clinton, is above the law.”

 

[blastula]

until there is a precedent, we don't know if they can be. here's an op-ed on the olc memo.

Should President Trump be above the law because of the statute of limitations?

 

[Bronzeage]

All it would take would be a state or local prosecutor to present a case to a grand jury and convince them to indict the President. There is no immunity from prosecution for anyone in this country.

Practical political considerations make it unlikely a President would be indicted because the Congress is given expressed power by the Constitution to deal with any criminal President. Once a President is impeached, political considerations are not as important.

 

[Ford]

All it would take would be a state or local prosecutor to present a case to a grand jury and convince them to indict the President. There is no immunity from prosecution for anyone in this country.

And according to a longtime liberal commentator on a FAKE NEWS! network, federal prosecutors have the goods on Fragilego Mussolini:

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/421083-foxs-napolitano-we-learned-today-that-prosecutors-have-evidence-trump

"Career prosecutors here in New York have evidence that the president of the United States committed a felony by ordering and paying Michael Cohen to break the law,” Napolitano said while speaking on Fox News. “How do we know that? They told that to the federal judge. Under the rules, they can’t tell that to the federal judge unless they actually have that hardcore evidence. Under the rules, they can’t tell that to the federal judge unless they intend to do something with that evidence."

(emphasis added)

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Another interesting development in the many Mueller investigations is that he may be dragging Pence into all of this. If indeed Pence was aware of what was going on with Flynn et al, and he may well have been, he could be in serious legal trouble also. After January 3rd, Nancy Pelosi becomes the official Speaker of the House and 3rd in line to succession if both Trump and Pence get impeached. This could all get very interesting very fast.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Another interesting development in the many Mueller investigations is that he may be dragging Pence into all of this. If indeed Pence was aware of what was going on with Flynn et al, and he may well have been, he could be in serious legal trouble also. After January 3rd, Nancy Pelosi becomes the official Speaker of the House and 3rd in line to succession if both Trump and Pence get impeached. This could all get very interesting very fast.

It would be funny if they both resigned on January 2nd and you all ended up with Presidrnt Ryan.

 

[Artemus]

I'm wondering if Trump will be entitled to Secret Service protection while he is in prison.

 

[Elixir]

Another interesting development in the many Mueller investigations is that he may be dragging Pence into all of this. If indeed Pence was aware of what was going on with Flynn et al, and he may well have been, he could be in serious legal trouble also. After January 3rd, Nancy Pelosi becomes the official Speaker of the House and 3rd in line to succession if both Trump and Pence get impeached. This could all get very interesting very fast.

It would be funny if they both resigned on January 2nd and you all ended up with Presidrnt Ryan.

Yeah - even funnier if they screwed it up so it wasn't effective until the 3rd.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

I'm wondering if Trump will be entitled to Secret Service protection while he is in prison.

I'm sure that's what they will call it.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Presidents shouldn't be above the law. They also shouldn't have the power to pardon whoever they want for no given reason. Both are extreme corrupion, and both shocked me when I first heard that they are things. America really needs to stop calling itself a "Democracy".

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Presidents shouldn't be above the law. They also shouldn't have the power to pardon whoever they want for no given reason. Both are extreme corrupion, and both shocked me when I first heard that they are things. America really needs to stop calling itself a "Democracy".

Either that or always make sure they keep the "democracy" in quotes.