Biden says immunity ruling means presidential power is ‘virtually unlimited’
Biden said tonight that the Supreme Court’s decision means there is “virtually no limit” to presidential power.
He said voters have a right to get answers about what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, through the courts before Election Day.
“Today’s decision makes that highly unlikely – a terrible disservice to the public,” he said.
Biden added that the Supreme Court’s decision means voters in November will decide whether to elect Trump president, knowing that he will be “even more emboldened to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants.”
President Biden speaks about the decision
Biden is expected to begin with brief remarks in response to the ruling.
Trump praised the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, but the White House said “no one is above the law” and the country needs leaders like Biden, NBC News’ Harry Jackson reports.
Biden to speak tonight about Trump’s immunity ruling
The White House announced this evening that President Biden will speak about today’s presidential immunity ruling at 7:45 p.m.
Biden had originally planned to return to the White House from Camp David, Maryland, after 8 p.m.
House Republicans sue Merrick Garland over Biden audio tape
Across the street from the Supreme Court, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee sued Attorney General Merrick Garland today as part of its efforts to obtain audio tapes of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with Biden about his handling of classified documents.
“Mr. Garland continues to violate his legal obligations by refusing to provide the Committee with audio recordings of the Special Counsel’s interviews with President Biden and Mark Zwonitzer. These recordings are not subject to executive privilege, and even if they were, executive privilege has been waived,” the House lawyers wrote.
The committee’s lawsuit seeks a court order requiring Garland to turn over audio recordings of interviews Hur conducted with Biden and Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter for Biden’s 2017 memoir.
The committee had previously issued a subpoena to Garland, and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted last month to hold him in contempt of court for refusing to release the special counsel’s recordings. The Justice Department dismissed the contempt charges against Garland.
Biden in May asserted executive privilege over the recordings of his conversation with Heo that were made public in March.
‘Five Alarm Clocks’: Immunity Ruling Raises Concerns About Future Lawless Presidents
Report from Washington
When President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon in 1974, he did so under the assumption that his predecessor would be prosecuted for trying to obstruct the Watergate investigation.
But such a pardon may not have been necessary under new rules the Supreme Court took effect today that give Donald Trump partial immunity in his election interference case.
“Richard Nixon would have been exonerated,” Nixon’s White House adviser, John Dean, said in a conference call with reporters today.
Read the full story here.
Immunity ruling postpones Trump’s January 6th case until after the election
The Supreme Court’s decision to grant presidential immunity would further delay Trump’s criminal proceedings in Washington related to efforts to block the transfer of power ahead of the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol and virtually guarantee that his trial will not begin before Election Day.
Instead, the Supreme Court’s decision sets the stage for a hearing before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on which charges in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment should be considered official conduct and therefore may be exempt from prosecution. Her final decision may then be subject to further appeals, meaning a Trump trial likely won’t take place until 2025. If Trump wins in November, there’s no chance of a trial at all.
Read the full story here.
Hillary Clinton joins Sotomayor in expressing fear for democracy
Hillary Clinton responded to the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling against X by writing that she agreed with the final sentence of Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent: “Out of concern for our democracy, I dissent.”
“It’s up to the American people this November to hold Donald Trump accountable,” Clinton said.
Former Capitol Police officer says court has ‘ripped away the guardrails of democracy’
Aquilino Gonnell, a former Capitol Police Sergeant who was at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, was outside the Supreme Court to hear today’s ruling.
“The Supreme Court has further stripped away the guardrails of our democracy. This is absurd and dangerous,” he said in a statement.
He added, “Republicans and a right-leaning Supreme Court have gone out of control, out of touch with reality and abandoned the truth. If Biden convenes a mob and sends it to attack the Supreme Court or Congress, will Republicans accept that or hold Biden accountable?”
He also posted a photo of an article on X with the headline “The President Can Now Officially Assassinate You,” and said, “The Supreme Court failed to realize they could be targeted.”
No word from Mr McConnell or Mr Thune today.
Neither Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell nor Senate Minority Whip John Thune have issued a statement since the immunity ruling.
However, it is noteworthy that after Senator McConnell voted to acquit President Trump in his second impeachment trial, the Senate Republican Leader stated that “former presidents cannot escape responsibility in both criminal and civil courts.”
“In today’s terms, President Trump is liable as a civilian for any actions he took while in office, unless the statute of limitations has run out. He is liable for any actions he took while in office,” he said. “He hasn’t gotten away with anything. Not yet. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil lawsuits. And former presidents can’t escape responsibility from either.”
