Right-wing media responded to a federal appeals court ruling on Tuesday denying former President Donald Trump’s claims of absolute immunity by offering absurd legal arguments and demonstrating general confusion about the facts of the case.
The D.C. appeals court ruled that Trump can be prosecuted for his actions to overturn the result of the 2020 election, a major victory for special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation. Trump is expected to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
As Politico reported:
Right-wing pundits reacted by attacking the decision, with some claiming it was partisan and that future Republican administrations should target President Joe Biden.
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OutKick’s Clay Travis claimed that if the case moved forward it would “violate DOJ precedent and put Trump on trial in the late summer and fall of an election year.”
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January 6 conspiracy theorist Julie Kelly called it the “least shocking thing ever,” painting the ruling as partisan and downplaying the charges against Trump as “vague”
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Daily Caller editor Vince Coglianese posted on X (formerly Twitter) that a sentence the order meant Trump was “not entitled to the presumption of innocence.” The very next sentence in the decision proved him wrong.
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Trump’s son and right-wing influencer Donald Trump Jr. wrote that the ruling meant future presidents would “be incapable of action for fear of future partisan reprisal,” which “endangers the United States and sets a terrible precedent.”
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Conservative judicial activist Mike Davis argued the judges “ignored the Constitution's separation of powers” and that a future Trump “Justice Department can prosecute Biden for his illegal release of dangerous migrants into the United States and the natural and probable crimes they commit.” In fact, the judges found that it was Trump’s argument that “would collapse our system of separated powers by placing the President beyond the reach of all three Branches.”
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“Pizzagate” conspiracy theorist and neo-Nazi collaborator Jack Posobiec echoed Davis, writing, “This presidential immunity ruling means Biden can be indicted right now for treason by aiding an invasion.”
