Suppose a president "ordered SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival" but "was not impeached," D.C. Circuit Judge Florence Y. Pan said while questioning Donald Trump's lawyer, D. John Sauer, on Tuesday. "Would he be subject to criminal prosecution?"
Sauer repeatedly resisted giving a straight answer to that question. But based on the position that Trump has taken in the federal case charging him with unlawfully trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, the answer was clearly no. According to Trump's lawyers, a former president can be prosecuted for "official acts," which would include his orders to a military unit like SEAL Team Six, only if he is first impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate based on the same underlying conduct.
