House Democrats are preparing to change the decades-old rule that bars the Department of Justice from indicting a sitting president.
According to The Hill, Democrats are considering a package of legislation that would crack down on election interference and prohibit candidates from accepting foreign help, as Trump signaled this week that he is open to doing.
The report notes that some Democrats want to go further by repealing the DOJ guideline that stops a lawless president like Trump from facing criminal indictment.
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[S]ome lawmakers want to press further, eying legislation to nullify the DOJ’s long-standing determination that presidents cannot be charged with federal crimes while they remain in office.
“It’s definitely on the menu,†said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a member of the Oversight and Reform Committee. “I’m in favor of expanding enforcement tools and accountability tools, and that’s definitely one of them.â€
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, is also signaling his support. While he’s not been involved in talks about specific proposals, Jeffries said, “it strikes me as a reasonable thing to consider.â€
“It’s fair to say that one of the options we should consider is revisiting that Department of Justice rule so you don’t have a rogue and lawless president immunized from criminal prosecution,†he said.
Presidents shouldn’t be above the law
Donald Trump has acted lawlessly over the past two years, and political gridlock in Congress combined with the DOJ’s inability to indict a sitting president has largely helped him get away with it.
With William Barr acting as a loyal Trump lapdog in his post at the Department of Justice and Republicans in Congress turning the other way, that has further emboldened this president to continue trampling over the rule of law.
In other words, Trump has shown that this decades-old guideline barring criminal presidents from being indicted most definitely needs to be revised.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
