Jimmy Kimmel has roasted Donald Trump and his legal team for saying the “most ridiculous answer imaginable” to whether a president can should be immune from prosecution if they order a rival’s assassination by the US military.
On his Tuesday night show, Mr Kimmel pointed out the absurdity of the attorney’s argument and joked about what it would unwittingly mean for Mr Trump.
“If the president can order SEAL Team Six to kill a political rival, Trump had better lock the doors at Mar-a-Lago because bazooka Joe Biden has every reason to blow it to kingdom come right now,” the late-night show host said.
During Tuesday’s court hearing in Washington DC, Mr Trump’s attorney D John Sauer told a panel of appeal judges that a president who has not been impeached and convicted would be immune from all prosecution – even for the murder of a political foe.
Mr Sauer was arguing to the three-judge panel that the former president’s federal election interference case should be tossed based on the argument that a president is immune from prosecution under impeachment and double jeopardy clauses of the US Constitution.
Judge Florence Pan doubled down in the debate, asking the attorney if a president could hypothetically kill a rival using the US military or sell pardons and still be immune from criminal prosecution.
Mr Kimmel poked fun at Trump’s lawer’s claims of presidential immunity— (Jimmy Kimmel Live)
Mr Sauer replied that a president would be subject to prosecution but only if they were “impeached and convicted first”.
“That’s Trump’s lead lawyer, Joe Camel, with the most ridiculous answer imaginable,” Mr Kimmel quipped, jesting at Mr Sauer’s seemingly raspy voice.
The late show host went on to say that the hearing did not go well and made fun of Mr Trump speaking to cameras as if it did.
In a clip of Mr Trump talking to the media after the hearing, he said that it was a “momentous day” where major points were conceded, which were “very, very big, very powerful points”.
“He has no idea what the points are; there are no points; you scored no points, it was a shutout,” Mr Kimmel said, chuckling.
“No idea what he is saying; he can’t even make a point about points.”
Mr Trump’s hearing on Tuesday is just the latest in a string of court appearances for the former president as he faces multiple criminal and civil cases.
This fact was not lost on Mr Kimmel, who joked that the court sketch artists “are running out of orange pastels” due to the amount of time Mr Trump spends in court.
