U.S. Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY) asserts that delays by the Supreme Court and by Attorney General Merrick Garland‘s Justice Department combined to put President-elect Donald Trump beyond the reach of the law.
Speaking after Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped two federal cases against Trump last week — the 2020 election subversion case and Mar-a-Lago classified documents case — Goldman said there is plenty of blame to go around for those looking at how Trump was able to avoid facing consequences for his alleged actions.
Trump was able to run out the clock, Goldman conceded, as Smith made clear he was dropping the cases not because the evidence wasn’t strong, but because it is unconstitutional to charge a sitting president.
[Smith’s office explained that the constitutional “prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind.”]
If the DOJ was slow to charge Trump, as Goldman contends, then the former President also got a helping hand from the conservative-packed SCOTUS, which not only ruled in Trump’s favor on immunity but also took its time in doing so.
Through DOJ delays and policies, and SCOTUS dragging their feet on his immunity ruling for months, Donald Trump is effectively above the law.
We can neither accept nor normalize his lawless conduct. All Americans must stand up to any efforts by Trump to dismantle our democracy. pic.twitter.com/EYkXEumiF6
— Daniel Goldman (@danielsgoldman) November 29, 2024
In June, when the Supreme Court issued its 6-to-3 presidential immunity ruling that gave Trump broad protection from criminal prosecution for “official” acts, one of the three dissenting justices, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, wrote that the ruling essentially meant “in every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law.”
(Goldman — a Stanford Law grad — said that the Supreme Court opinion was “surprising…I think, even to Donald Trump’s lawyers.”)
The Congressman added that “the notion that the president could effectively commit bribery in office as it related to an official act and would be immune from that, that seems completely outside our rule of law, certainly the criminal justice system.”
About the one-two punch that helped free Trump from the long arm of the law, Goldman said: “There’s no question that the combination of the Supreme Court taking an exceedingly long time to decide that case…combining with the fact that Merrick Garland started this investigation a year too late means that Donald Trump was once again able to run out the clock.”
With the CNN interview clip above, Goldman wrote: “Through DOJ delays and policies, and SCOTUS dragging their feet on his immunity ruling for months, Donald Trump is effectively above the law. We can neither accept nor normalize his lawless conduct. All Americans must stand up to any efforts by Trump to dismantle our democracy.”
Oral arguments on April 25. Opinion issued July 1.
That’s about the same amount of time Judge Tanya Chutkan took between filing of immunity defense motion her ruling denying presidential immunity.
You are a complete fraud.
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) November 29, 2024
Trump-supporting conservative political pundit Julie Kelly, a self proclaimed “J6 conspiracy theorist, insurrection denier,” replied to Goldman: “Oral arguments on April 25. Opinion issued July 1. That’s about the same amount of time Judge Tanya Chutkan took between filing of immunity defense motion [and] her ruling denying presidential immunity.”
Arguing against Kelly, one commenter wrote: “SCOTUS ruled on Watergate arguments in less than 2 weeks.”
United States v. Nixon was argued before the Supreme Court on July 8, 1974; the Court decided unanimously — just 16 days later — on July 24, 1974 to order President Richard Nixon to deliver tape recordings and other subpoenaed materials related to the Watergate scandal to a federal district court. It is considered a crucial precedent limiting the power of any U.S. president to claim executive privilege. Nixon resigned on August 8.
