Trump Deems Himself A King Who Is Above Congress And The Courts

Rep. Jamie Raskin described the White House’s legal theory of Trump’s power is that he is a king who is above the courts and Congress.

Read: Samuel Alito Is The Insurrectionist Threat To Democracy On The Supreme Court

Trump thinks that he is a king

Rep. Raskin said on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, “The theory is that the president is essentially a constitutional monarch and he stands above Congress and he stands above the courts. That’s a complete inversion of the constitutional design. Under our constitution, Congress is in Article One. We are the lawmaking power and receive the sovereign power from the people. We can impeach the president. We can impeach executive officers. He cannot impeach us. He has it backwards. Congress is in the process of reasserting our constitutional preeminence. We are not just a coequal branch We are the first among equals, and we have a president who thinks he is a king and acting in a lawless manner.”

Video:

The White House sent a 12-page letter to House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) explaining why Congress doesn’t have the power to investigate Trump:

[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.politicususa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/pacletter05.15.2019.pdf”]

Trump’s theory of executive power is intentionally and conveniently designed to place him above all investigations. The Trump administration has gone beyond the opinion that a sitting president can’t be indicted, and turned it into a president can’t be investigated for anything that he does. It is Nixon’s old claim that if a president does it, it’s legal taken to an absurd level.

The White House is promoting this theory as a shield and delay tactic to stall the many congressional investigations of this president.

Trump isn’t a king. He is not above the law, and his theory of executive power will face a sudden and quick downfall in court.

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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