‘Any President Can Commit Any Crime!’ Senate Democrat Gives Barn Burner of a Speech On Implications Of Trump legal Argument

Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) gave a barn burner of a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate this week reacting to legal arguments from Donald Trump’s lawyers before a DC appeals court hearing.

“When asked by a federal judge if a president could be criminally prosecuted for ordering Seal Team Six to assassinate a political rival, Trump’s lawyer responded, and I quote, ‘He would have to be and would speedily be impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution could proceed,’” Schatz fumed Thursday, adding:

What does that mean as a practical matter? It means that the president could commit any crime up to, and including ordering the United States military to murder a political rival, and there would be no way to hold him accountable as long as 34 United States senators stood ready to vote to acquit.

Let’s back up for a second, because during the impeachment trial three years ago, Trump’s legal team and a majority of Senate Republicans argued that it was the job of the criminal justice system to deal with statutory crimes. Crimes that are in the law books, right? Not the Senate.

Their argument was explicit, which is this is not the venue. And now Trump’s lawyers are arguing in the other venue. I’m sorry. What I meant was, this is the venue. So what they are really saying is our guy gets to commit crimes.

Schatz continued by sounding the alarm on the implications of the argument, “Then I want everybody who’s right of center, far right of center, center right, right in the center, I don’t care. I want everyone to think about the consequences of accepting this argument.”

“Any president can commit any crime! And not only that, by the way, it’s a matter of being the commander in chief and using those resources to assassinate a political rival. And you can’t even get a Trump lawyer to say, yeah, that would probably be illegal and cause him to go to jail. Their question is, well, that would depend on how the votes fell in the Congress,” he continued, concluding:

Donald J. Trump was president and does not believe in American-style democracy. He believes that when, when and if he becomes president again. That he will exact revenge, that he will be a dictator from day one, and that if he is held accountable for his crimes, there will be bedlam. Now, does that sound like a rhetorical flourish? Sure does, doesn’t it? Except that I’m quoting him.

Watch the clip above or the full speech here.