story
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mitch-mcconnell-immunity-former...
(1) before today, there was no solid answer to what immunity a president may have
(2) it's unclear whether 'January 6' is an 'official' act (or even Trump's act at all, as he was not involved, denounced the rioters immediately, and called for a peaceful assembly)
'Immediately' as in many hours after violence started, and his own children begged him to do something?
That's because no president has committed any supposed crime of any importance.
Nixon probably did, but resigned anyway, and was then pardoned, so it doesn't really matter.
Clinton was a technicality, and never removed from office, and no one cares really. Lewinsky is a celebrity now.
Trump... well the first one was obviously political (many Presidents deny foreign aid, etc... it's part of foreign policy. Biden is famously on tape as admitting to doing the exact same thing) and the second one was on thin ice as Trump explicitly called for peace
"Using the powers of his high office, President Trump solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 United States Presidential election. He did so through a scheme or course of conduct that included soliciting the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 United States Presidential election to his advantage. President Trump also sought to pressure the Government of Ukraine to take these steps by conditioning official United States Government acts of significant value to Ukraine on its public announcement of the investigations."
I thought the USA was a country of laws, not kings.
* actually guaranteeing that if the president is trampling my rights and a supermajority of congress don't like it, he'll be ejected from office, not anything to do with my protection or restitution.
It is. The 'official' duties of presidents and the federal government are clearly laid out in the Constitution and subsequent laws. And moreover, the Presidents term expires at the end of four years, whether he believes it does or not. The concern-trolling over Jan 6 is something else. Even supposing the rioters had murderous intent and were going to hang people (they weren't... this was just a protest gone wrong)... trump would still cease to be president on January 20. No action needs to be taken to elect another one. The Presidency would fall to whomever is next in line and duly elected.
There is no way for a President to become a 'king'. The most years a President may serve is eight and at midnight on January 20 (or noon, I forget), no one listens to him anymore
> * actually guaranteeing that if the president is trampling my rights and a supermajority of congress don't like it, he'll be ejected from office, not anything to do with my protection or restitution.
Currently, the recourse you have if you believe the president is violating your rights is to file a civil action in a federal court. No action of congress is needed for you to do this. If your complaint is that SCOTUS, as the court of final appeal, may get your case wrong... indeed that is worrisome and indeed it's happened before, but if that's your complaint, then it has nothing to do with this case.
Your only recourse would be waiting until the President is out of office, then getting DoJ onboard to press criminal charges, with all the due process that entails. Fitzgerald explicitly provides no protection in the case of criminal litigation over and beyond that of an ordinary citizen for a former President.
Until today at least. God save us all.
EDIT: to clarify: Any president up until now, and from now going forward, has the power to command his generals to murder every senator, justice, and governor. Of course, American soldiers take an oath to the constitution, so hopefully this wouldn't happen, but he could. Moreover, anyone can 'just' murder all living politicians and declare themselves king. This is hardly a theoretical scenario to concern oneself over.
