An attorney for Donald Trump pushed an expansive interpretation of presidential immunity before a federal appeals court on Tuesday, arguing that presidents can't face prosecution for selling pardons or assassinating rivals through SEAL Team Six, The Messenger reports. John Sauer, the former president's lead lawyer, argued that only an impeached and subsequently removed president would be at risk of prosecution for those kinds of crimes.
The three-judge panel appeared skeptical of the interpretation, acutely questioning and interjecting Sauer in the early minutes of the oral arguments as Trump looked on nearby. “Could a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival? That’s an official act–an order to Seal Team Six,” U.S. Circuit Judge Florence Pan asked Sauer.
