CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Calls Out Trump Immunity Case Delay — Twice As Long As Watergate

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins called out the length of time since the Supreme Court heard ex-President Donald Trump’s immunity appeal — twice as long as Watergate and counting.

On April 25, the Supreme Court held a dramatic hearing on an appeals court ruling that rejected Trump’s argument that a president could order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival and not face prosecution unless he were impeached and convicted first. Trump attorney John Sauer tripled down on that argument at the Supreme Court.

On Wednesday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins prefaced her interview of CNN analyst and former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean by noting the length of time the case is taking, and accusations the delay is “political”:

COLLINS: Tonight, we are still waiting on rulings, from at least 20 cases that are left on the Supreme Court’s docket. It’s still quite packed. And that includes the biggest blockbuster of them all, Donald Trump’s claim of immunity from criminal prosecution.

In “The New York Times,” today, you might have read this. One legal expert wrote, “Something’s Rotten About the Justices Taking So Long on Trump’s Immunity Case.” If past is prologue, as Leah Litman argues in that article, Trump’s case should have been decided by now.

What we know, of course, is, when you look at the calendar, a 111 days have passed since the court agreed to hear this case.

Now compare that to Watergate, when then-President Nixon was arguing immunity, from a subpoena that was seeking his Oval Office recordings, and the Supreme Court made that decision in 54 days.

I want to get perspective, tonight, from John Dean, who was the former White House Counsel to President Nixon.

And it’s great to have you, John.

Because I don’t know, when you — when you look at this, and you see what Leah is arguing, in her article, today, do you believe it’s taking an unusual amount of time? Are you suspicious of this?

JOHN DEAN: Kaitlan, I’m very suspicious of this. There’s just absolutely no reason for it. It was 16 days from argument to decision in Nixon versus U.S., where they tried to — where they got the tapes from him. So, there really is not a clear explanation of what’s going on.

There are — you noted the number of decisions, important decisions that haven’t been issued yet. There’s a lot of administrative law kind of decisions, which really are not as important, in the bigger picture. They are to the litigants, but not to the fate of the nation, is the one they’re now sitting on for some 100 days. So, there is not a good explanation, at this point.

COLLINS: Yes. And I think the other part of this is it is a historically sluggish court. “The Wall Street Journal” looked at this, and noted that the justices here are completing decisions at the second slowest rate that we’ve seen, from the Supreme Court, since their 1946 term. And April was a very busy month for them.

DEAN: Right.

COLLINS: But I wonder, when you do look at this, how much of it is a matter of the process, and making a big decision like this one, versus when people see it as maybe a political delay, as Leah Litman is suggesting here?

DEAN: Well, the fact that they’re — the number of decisions that are backed up would really, some of the proponents are trying to really disassemble the administrative state. And I’m sure there’s contentions within the court itself that could prolong and protract those decisions just in the normal course.

Then you add in the immunity case for Trump, which was actually, it’s been some six months they’ve been sitting on that, or ignoring it, if you will, or not facing it, or not telling the public, what the decision is, because the Special Counsel, Jack Smith, brought it in, initially, in December, as on an emergency proceeding. So, the court certainly knows the prosecutors think it’s important to get this decided.

Yet as I say, if it comes out in June, hopefully it will not get pushed over until July. This is a long time on that case.

COLLINS: Yes. And ultimately, I mean, we could see this as soon as tomorrow, potentially. Tomorrow is a Supreme Court day.

DEAN: True.

COLLINS: We never know what’s going to come down. Do you think though ultimately, when it does come out that Trump’s immunity claim fails?

DEAN: It should, by all precedent, by all history. I can’t imagine any argument that could grant him total immunity.

There is total immunity, which was extraordinary at the time, in civil cases for presidents. While judges and members of Congress have immunity from their work, in their legislative work or judicial work, per se, Presidents have never needed it, because, it has just not been an issue after Fitzgerald versus Nixon.

So, now we’re into the criminal area. And nobody else has criminal immunity in the entire federal system. So, the fact that Trump wants absolute immunity is extraordinary. I can’t believe, Kaitlan, he’s going to get it.

COLLINS: Yes. DEAN: Can’t believe it.

COLLINS: It’s just remarkable. I spent part of the day, today, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, because I’m so nerdy, but I was reading some of the transcripts of the Nixon Oval Office recordings, and in conversations with you. It’s just remarkable.

John Dean, it’s great to have you weigh in on this. Thank you for being here, tonight.

DEAN: Thanks, Kaitlan.

Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.