On Monday on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) claimed President Joe Biden could use the Supreme Court decision affirming a degree of immunity for former and current presidents to remove conservative justices from the high court.
Lofgren told host Nicolle Wallace the decision was a “complete departure” from American history.
“He’s been very open about what he intends to do, and that’s retribution. He, himself, said last December he intends to terminate parts of the Constitution. He didn’t say which parts. Be didn’t say which parts but apparently, the Court is going to give him a wide range to terminate whatever he wants. You know, he summoned a mob to Washington knowing they were armed. He sent them to the Capitol to try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. If that’s OK, we’ve got a problem in this country. And certainly, in the debate the other night, he would not commit to accepting the election results this November unless he won. So we’ve got a problem here. If he cannot be accountable to — any president, any president cannot be held accountable under the laws that exist — that’s a complete departure from our history. I guess, you know, theoretically, President Biden, acting within the scope of his official duties, could dispatch the military to take out the conservative justices on the Court, and he’d be immune. Think so?”
MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissmann indicated that the California Democrat was correct in her assertion, adding that the high court decision removes “an enormous check” on the president.
“All these things the congresswoman is saying could be done, which is … Joe Biden could go ahead and prosecute somebody like Donald Trump with no evidence — that’s OK. Could order somebody to be killed — that’s OK. Could go ahead and prosecute Justice Thomas for tax evasion or for bribery based on the facts that we know with respect to Harlan Crow? All of that seems to be on the table, which is horrendous and the reason it’s not going to happen for Joe Biden is because he’s decent and he wouldn’t do it. But that’s not how our country’s supposed to be working on checks and balances. This takes away an enormous check on the most powerful position in the free world.”
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