Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman questioned Donald Trump’s “off the charts” presidential immunity claim on Saturday as he declared that the former president is headed to the “big house.”
Trump’s legal team argued before a federal appeals court last week that presidents have “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for acts made in office.
But Ackerman told MSNBC’s Katie Phang the legal claim is really just a delay tactic for the Jan. 6 trial.
“What’s really at stake here is getting this trial that is scheduled for March 4 back on track, because the minute that Donald Trump is in the dock, the jury is sworn in, he is gone,” Akerman said of the 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner.
“He’s going to be convicted and be on his way to the big house – that’s what he’s concerned about. His only legal defense here, it’s not on the facts, it’s not on the law, it’s on delay.”
Phang asked whether the Supreme Court would take up the case should Trump lose the immunity claim, as widely expected.
“Oh, I don’t think there’s any need to do it in this case, it’s pretty clear what the law is,” Akerman said.
“There’s no idea of a president can go on Fifth Avenue and kill somebody and they’re not going to get prosecuted, that’s insane. The idea that a president can kill this political opposition and not get prosecuted is completely off the charts.”
Akerman added that there’s “no way anybody” is “going to buy” the argument.
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