After making the difficult decision to skip attending the historic Supreme Court hearing on presidential immunity, former president and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump condemned Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan for forcing him to make the decision in the first place.
Merchan threatened to arrest Trump if he chose to miss court in the outrageous and unprecedented “hush money” trial to attend the oral arguments in his presidential immunity case, claiming that the two cases were just as important.
New York Judge Merchan to Trump: "If you do not show up, there will be an arrest."
During peak election season, Trump will be forced to appear in court every day.
To be clear this is infinitely worse election interference than anything that the MSM accused Russia/Putin of…
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 15, 2024
“Arguing before the Supreme Court is a big deal, and I can certainly appreciate why your client would want to be there,” the judge said while denying Trump’s request to attend the Supreme Court hearing, adding: “But a trial in New York Supreme Court is also a big deal.”
This claim is laughably false considering one case is about supposed “hush money” payments to a former adult actress that aren’t even a crime, while the other case will determine whether Trump and any future president is immune from criminal prosecution for actions that constitute official duties without first being impeached and convicted.
🚨 Trump Attorney D. John Sauer: “Without presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, there can be no presidency as we know it… if a president can be charged, put on trial and imprisoned for his most controversial decisions as soon as he leaves office that looming threat… pic.twitter.com/hAZ2S95GfT
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 25, 2024
On Wednesday, the day before the hearing, Trump slammed Merchan for making him miss “the most important case in many years.”
Trump also pointed out that Merchan clearly thinks that he is “above” the Supreme Court.
“Because he thinks he is above the Supreme Court, he is prohibiting me from going to the presidential immunity hearing where some of the great legal scholars will be arguing the case—the most important case in many years on the Supreme Court,” he told Fox News.
The former president noted that in the absence of presidential immunity, the office of the presidency will essentially be “ceremonial” — as every president would be terrified of facing prosecution in a state controlled by the opposing party for a decision they disagree with.
With presidential immunity, a president would first have to be impeached in the House of Representatives for the specific “crime,” and then convicted in the Senate before he could face criminal prosecution.
“Without presidential immunity, the presidency becomes a ceremonial position only, it will be decimated,” Trump explained, condemning the “radical leftist Democrat” judge for “prohibiting me from going.”
Trump has also condemned Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — who has repeatedly refused to prosecute actual serious crimes, while throwing the book at Trump — referring to his case as a “communist show trial.”
“Virtually every legal scholar and expert in the country said that this case should not have been brought, that there was no crime, that everything was done properly and that this is a case that should be dropped immediately,” he added.
“It’s an embarrassment to Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrat Party who are duly standing behind it and the judge is totally conflicted — totally conflicted,” Trump continued.
