‘Brilliant!’ Bill Maher Gets ‘Dumbed Down’ Explainer on Trump Immunity Claims From CNN Anchor

Comic and pundit Bill Maher got a “dumbed-down” explainer on former President Donald Trump’s immunity claims from CNN host and legal expert Laura Coates.

On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the comic’s panel guests were Laura Coates and Walter Kirn, and his interview guest was Ray Romano.

During the “Overtime” segment, Maher asked Coates about Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request the Supreme Court take up the issue of presidential immunity after Judge Tanya Chutkan denied two motions to dismiss from Trump’s team.

Coates called the move “brilliant” and at Maher’s behest gave an explainer on the issue, ostensibly for Romano:

MAHER: Poor Hunter Biden. Laura, what do you think of Jack Smith taking Trump’s immunity claim directly to the Supreme Court?

COATES: Brilliant. Why not? Why not go straight to the horse’s mouth? I mean — or nine of them? I mean, you’re going to have to have a time when you know it’s ending up in the Supreme Court. So why go through all the rigmarole and (INAUDIBLE) route? Just give me the answer. Is he immune or not? Do I have a case? Is there a trial in March?

MAHER: No. Ray claims he’s not smart enough to do this show, but he plainly is.

(LAUGHTER)

Just pretend he isn’t and explain the background of this.

ROMANO: Dumb it down. Dumb it down.

MAHER: No, not dumb it down. But, I mean, people may not have heard about immunity, and I’m a little fuzzy on this, too. So —

COATES: So, Jack and Jill went up a hill.

(LAUGHTER)

Honestly, here’s what happens. Really, it’s this. Remember that statement by Nixon, if the president does it, it’s not illegal.

MAHER: Right.

COATES: Remember that statement. Well, everything a president does is not an official presidential act. Going to the bathroom, campaigning, creating a crime. These aren’t things that are in the wheelhouse of a president in the same respects.

They’re trying to figure out, if it’s not what your official duty is, do you get the protection of being able to say, you can’t touch me, you can’t prosecute me because everything I’m doing is part of the job? That’s the immunity issue.

MAHER: Which of his four trials does this pertain to?

COATES: This pertains to the January 6 trial in Washington, D.C.

MAHER: So, the big one.

COATES: The big one. The federal trial about election subversion.

MAHER: Right.

COATES: He’s trying to claim that everything he said leading up to January 6 and really on January 6 was all part of a presidential duty, and therefore, I can’t be prosecuted. You got to know the answer to that question before you go forward with the trial because if he’s right and if the court sides with him, a lot of these cases at the federal level go poof, gone.

Watch above via HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.