Higher-ranking military officials have opposed granting immunity to the US presidential candidate Donald Trump, reports The Hill.
More than a dozen retired four-star generals, admirals, and other former military leaders filed a complaint with the Supreme Court on Monday, opposing former President Trump's claims of immunity in his criminal cases. According to senior military officials, Trump's statements “would threaten the military’s role in American society, our nation’s constitutional order, and our national security,” having a “profoundly negative effects on military service members.”
Former President's lawyers argued that the charges against Trump related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack should be dismissed because at the time, he was acting as president. Prosecutors condemned this idea as a "novel and sweeping" assertion.
Among those who signed the statement were former CIA Director Michael Hayden, retired Adm. Thad Allen and retired Gens. George Casey, Carlton Fulford, Craig McKinley, and Charles Krulak.
The group argued that granting Trump immunity from criminal charges could open the door to future executive branch interference in the country's elections and could jeopardize national security.
“The notion of such immunity, both as a general matter and also specifically in the context of the potential negation of election results, threatens to jeopardize our nation’s security and international leadership,” the statement reads. “Particularly in times like the present, when anti-democratic, authoritarian regimes are on the rise worldwide, such a threat is intolerable and dangerous.”
The senior military officials also say that if the court agrees with Trump's arguments, it could undermine the relationship between the Commander-in-Chief and the military because the president would not have to abide by the law while the military would still have to.
The situation could end up “creating the likelihood that service members will be placed in the impossible position of having to choose between following their Commander-in-Chief and obeying the laws enacted by Congress,” the brief says.
Legal cases against Trump
Donald Trump faces over 90 criminal charges in multiple cases, including paying $130,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels, attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, unlawfully handling classified information after leaving office, among others.
Earlier, Trump was ordered to pay over $450 million in a fraud case.
On February 16, a New York court ordered Donald Trump to pay over $350 million. He was found guilty of deliberate financial manipulations over ten years. The judge also banned Trump from holding executive positions in any New York corporation for three years.