Dont go anywhere. I will be back with Rachel Maddow and the whole gang for special Coverage Of Trump On Trial that starts right now. The expresident of the United States. Two american courtrooms. Facing Criminal Trial in one. I will go in now and sit. And making a desperate case to avoid justice in the other. We will hear arguments this morning in trump versus the United States. Tonight, new testimony of the alleged criminal conspiracy to help elect donald trump. Reporter trump turned to the business at hand and asked david pecker, how is our girl . As his argument for absolute immunity finally goes before the Supreme Court. This court has never recognized absolute criminal immunity for any public official. A private attorney who was willing to spread false claims of Election Fraud what was up with the pardon for president nixon . If everybody thought president s couldnt be prosecuted, what was that about . If it fails completely it is because we have destroyed our democracy. Tonight,
And it is pretty clear those options are as i just outlined it. Does that mean he couldnt find trump in violation of some other statute that has not been briefed before him . Nobody has also said im not going to summarily find contempt. These are things you have to bring before me. He has made it very clear. These are not summary proceedings. Unless he actually does it in front of me, im not going to do it on my own volition. We could keep going. , we shouldnt. That will do it for us for now. Now it is time for the last word with our good friend lawrence odonnell. Good evening. Good evening, rachel. We have convened our own version of the last word Supreme Court. In it, including Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe, Andrew Weissman is here with us. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has a few things to say about it too and he will be joining us. Looking forward to it, lawrence. We learned today the United States Supreme Court has two different kinds of justices. Justices who are trying to pro
Prosecuted for his official act. The framers of our constitution viewed an energetic executive as essential to securing liberty. If a president can be ard, put on trial and in prison for his most controversi dision as soon as he leaves office, that looming teawill distort the president s decisionmaking precisely when bold and fearless action is most needed. Every current president will face de facto blackml d extortion by his political rivals while he is still in office. The implications of the courts decision here extend far beyond the facts of ts se. Could esent george w. Bush have been sent to prison for stcting an official proceeding or allegedly lying to congress to induce war iir . Could president obama be charged with murder for killing u. S. Citizens abroad by drone strike . Could President Biden someday be chgewith unlawfully inducing immigrants to enter the country illegally for his border poly. The answer to all the questions is no. Prosecuting the esent for official acts is
New testimony of the alleged criminal conspiracy to help elect donald trump. Trump turned to the business at hand and asked david pecker, how is our girl . Argument for absolute immunity goes before the Supreme Court. This court never recognized criminal immunity for any public official. A private attorney who was willingly to spearhead his challenges to the election results. What was up for the party with president nixon . If everybody thought president s couldnt be prosecuted, then what was that about. If it feels completely,s because we destroyed our own democracy. Rachel maddow, Nicolle Wallace troy reed, lawrence odonnell, ari melber, all here as Msnbc Special Coverage Of Trump On Trial begins. Who has the time . Who has the time . You are telling me that simultaneously we have nearly three hours of Oral Argument at the United States Supreme Court of the former president claiming he is immune from prosecution for any crime he did while president and debt the exact same time he is
Imal prosecution, there can be no presidency as we know. For 234 years ofmecan history, no president was ever prosecuted for h oicial act. The framers of our constitution viedn energetic executive as essential to securing liberty. If a president can be charged, put on trial and in prison f his most controversial decision as soon as he leaves office, that looming threat will distort the president s decisionmaking precisely when bold and fearless action is mo nded. Every currt esident will face de facto blackmail and tortion by his political rivals while he is still i office. E implications of the courts decision here extend fareyd the facts of this case. Could president george w. Bush have been sent to prison for obstructing an official proceedi oallegedly lying to congress to induce war in iraq . Could president obama be charged with murder for killinu. Citizens abroad by drone strike . Could President Biden someday be charged with unlawfully inducing immigran tenter the country illega