Donald Trump went on another wild rant about presidential immunity as his legal issues continue to snowball.
On Friday, April 19, the embattled ex-prez took to his Truth Social platform and penned five separate posts — with very similar messages — on why he believes he should have immunity from criminal charges.
"IF IMMUNITY IS NOT GRANTED TO A PRESIDENT, EVERY PRESIDENT THAT LEAVES OFFICE WILL BE IMMEDIATELY INDICTED BY THE OPPOSING PARTY," he said in an all-caps post. "WITHOUT COMPLETE IMMUNITY, A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO PROPERLY FUNCTION!"
In his second update, Trump argued that without full immunity, "the Opposing Party, during his/her term in Office, can extort and blackmail the President by saying that, 'if you don’t give us everything we want, we will Indict you for things you did while in Office,' even if everything done was totally Legal and Appropriate."
He insisted that would "be the end of the Presidency, and our Country, as we know it," before declaring that Barack Obama, George W. Bush and President Joe Biden "would all be in BIG TROUBLE."
"If a President doesn’t have IMMUNITY, he/she will be nothing more than a 'ceremonial' President, rarely having the courage to do what has to be done for our Country," he continued. "This is not what the Founders had in mind! Protect Presidential Immunity."
His third post was much of the same. He claimed the presidency would lose its "power and prestige" without immunity and repeated his belief that the founding fathers would not have wanted this — despite the fact that the Constitution doesn't directly call for the practice.
According to Constitution Annotated, it's been ruled that presidential immunity does not refer to criminal charges.
"For example, in United States v. Nixon, the Court held that President Richard Nixon was amenable to a subpoena to produce evidence for use in a federal criminal case," an excerpt read, detailing that Nixon also argued he had immunity. "The Supreme Court unanimously disagreed, holding that neither the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the need for confidentiality of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, unqualified Presidential privilege of immunity from judicial process under all circumstances."
In his fourth post, Trump changed his tactic and said that if they "take away" his immunity, then they have to take away "Crooked Joe Biden's" as well.
"WITHOUT PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY, IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR A PRESIDENT TO PROPERLY FUNCTION," the 77-year-old's fifth message read. "PUTTING THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN GREAT AND EVERLASTING DANGER!"
Trump critics flooded social media to slam the controversial politician.
One user mocked, "'Oh no! If they take away my ability to commit crimes I might be held accountable!' - Don the Con Trump."
Another person pointed out, "You do not have blanket immunity, the court will not be taking anything away!"
"REMINDER: President Biden has absolutely NOTHING to do with this, and he has nothing to worry about," a third user said. "The ONLY ONE person who is worrying about presidential immunity is Donald Trump."
Trump is the first current or former POTUS to ever be criminally charged. He is facing a total of 91 felony counts across four indictments.
The court proceedings for his first criminal trial began on Monday, April 15. He's been hit with 34 counts of falsifying business documents in connection with a hush money payment made to Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to keep her from speaking about an alleged sexual encounter they had in 2006.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
