CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Hits Back At Trump Attorney Claim In Intense Interview: ‘Immunity Is Not Actually In The Constitution’

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins challenged Trump attorney Will Scharf’s claim that the kind of immunity Trump seeks has been “inherent in the constitutional design” and in place for “hundreds of years.”

Trump attorney John Sauer argued before the Supreme Court on Thursday that ordering the assassination of rivals “could well be” covered by presidential immunity, as could ordering a military coup.

Scharf was a guest on Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, during which Collins pressed him on those arguments, and then was compelled to explain to Scharf what is and isn’t in the U.S. Constitution:

COLLINS: So, do you disagree with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who said, what you’re arguing could allow the seat of the presidency to become a — where you can act with impunity that any criminal act couldn’t happen, because you have nothing to fear, no prosecution.

SCHARF: We believe immunity is inherent in the constitutional design. So, that’s the system we’ve been operating under, for hundreds of years.

COLLINS: But it’s, immunity is not actually in the Constitution.

SCHARF: Well we believe that immunity naturally follows from the Constitution, the same way that civil immunity, which isn’t written in the Constitution, naturally follows from our constitutional system. And that was recognized by the court in Nixon v. Fitzgerald in 1982.

COLLINS: What is victory here? Is it the Supreme Court embracing your argument on total immunity? Or is it just sending it back to the lower court, and therefore delaying the January 6 trial from happening, before the 2024 election?

SCHARF: We think it’s very important for the future of the presidency, for the court to embrace a vigorous doctrine of presidential immunity in the criminal context.

COLLINS: But will you still consider–

SCHARF: To us, that’s what victory looks like.

COLLINS: Will you still consider it a victory, if they just send it back to the lower court, and then it essentially delays the trial?

SCHARF: We believe that what’s going on here is much more important than this particular trial, or this particular defendant. We believe that what’s at stake here is the future of the presidency. And without a vigorous immunity doctrine, I fear for the future of our country.

COLLINS: Will Scharf, great to have you. You were inside the Supreme Court today. Thank you for joining us here, tonight.

SCHARF: Thanks for having me.

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