Giuliani Is Now Claiming That Trump Could Murder James Comey And Not Be Indicted

Rudy Giuliani took his warped and inaccurate definition of presidential power to a whole new level on Sunday when he claimed that Trump could shoot James Comey and not be indicted.

Giuliani told HuffPo:
“In no case can he be subpoenaed or indicted,” Rudy Giuliani told HuffPost Sunday, claiming a president’s constitutional powers are that broad. “I don’t know how you can indict while he’s in office. No matter what it is.”

Giuliani said impeachment was the initial remedy for a president’s illegal behavior ― even in the extreme hypothetical case of Trump having shot former FBI Director James Comey to end the Russia investigation rather than just firing him.

“If he shot James Comey, he’d be impeached the next day,” Giuliani said. “Impeach him, and then you can do whatever you want to do to him.”

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The presidency does not give the officeholder blanket immunity

Presidents can’t do anything that they want and face no punishment as long as Congress won’t impeach. Trump’s legal team can’t argue the facts, and they can’t argue their client’s innocence, so they have cooked up this absurd theory of executive power that makes Richard Nixon look tame by comparison. The foundation of the US system is that no person is above the law. This includes the president.

Donald Trump can’t shoot someone and get away with because Paul Ryan lacks the spine to impeach him. It is unclear if a president can be indicted, because no one has tried to indict a sitting president yet, but given how vigorously the Trump legal team is arguing that Trump can’t be indicted for anything, one suspects that one of their darkest fears is the possibility that President Of The United States will be indicted.

The Trump theory of executive power is so extreme that it is a threat to US democracy.

To protect our democratic values, Donald Trump may need to be indicted.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association