PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Monday that ex-presidents have broad immunity extended the delay in the federal prosecution against former President Donald Trump.
Local 10 News anchors Kristi Krueger and Eden Checkol spoke to legal analyst David Weinstein about the decision.
Watch full Q&A above or read the transcript below:
Kristi Krueger: When we talk about immunity, we’re not really talking about this absolute immunity. What was the outcome in your opinion today?
David Weinstein: Well, part of it was about absolute immunity. There are certain parts of the indictments that have now been thrown out, they can’t even talk about them. They can’t use them to prove their charges. But there are other things that he did, that the government is going to be given a chance to rebut the presumption of immunity here and show the judge why these are not official acts. And that’s what’s going to take place first, when this case, gets back down to the D.C. Circuit Court.
Eden Checkol: And David, Trump didn’t get absolute immunity, which is what he was originally vying for. But it is still safe to say this isn’t a slam dunk, but it is still a win for him. Would you call it that?
Weinstein: Oh, absolutely. He didn’t get what he wanted, which was absolute (immunity). But he got what he needed, which is another delay, it is very unlikely that this case will ever see a jury before the end of this year, there’s the hearing that’s going to have to take place, then that’ll go up on appeal and maybe again, back up to the Supreme Court. And that’s never going to happen in the next four months.
Krueger: OK, so we’re talking a big delay here, then what happens if Trump is elected President, in your opinion?
Weinstein: Well, we’ve heard him say that if he’s elected, he’s going to direct his Department of Justice, his attorney general, to dismiss the two cases that exist against him, the one in DC, and the one down here in South Florida. So if he is elected, he will make both of those cases go away.
Checkol: David, I thought this was interesting. There were some extreme hypotheticals that were brought up today about what future implications this could have. And in her dissent, Justice Sotomayor, she said today’s decision to grant former presidents criminal immunity “reshapes the institution of the presidency.” So what could this ruling mean for future presidents?
Weinstein: Well, if you take this opinion to the letter of what it said, If you as the president undertake an act that is within the scope of your official duties, within the confines of your executive power, by talking to people in the executive department and you commit an act, even if it’s criminal, this ruling says you’re immune.
Checkol: And one other question for you. I know we touched on the delay a little bit, but this trial was set for March, it was delayed by former President Trump’s claim to immunity. This ruling now really slows things down even more from happening any time before the presidential election, right? I mean, can we say it’s just not gonna happen?
Weinstein: It is not going to happen. If they’re lucky, they’ll have a hearing in the next month or so. And then the judge will issue an order on that, but whoever loses is going to take an appeal. And that’s going to take a couple more months. If he doesn’t win the election and it works its way through we’ll be about where we are right now a year from now.