Judges signal skepticism over Trump immunity

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Jan 09, 2024 View in browser   By Garrett Ross Presented by Former President Donald Trump and his legal team were brushed back during a hearing on his immunity claim. | Susan Walsh/AP DONALD TRUMP returned to the courtroom this morning for a closely watched showdown over whether he can claim immunity from the 2020 election subversion charges he faces — and he didn’t get the reception he was hoping for. The federal appeals panel strongly indicated that it is likely to reject his bid for immunity, Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report. “With Trump looking on, a three-judge panel expressed deep skepticism of his contention that a president could not be prosecuted — even for assassinating a rival or selling military secrets — if he were not first impeached and convicted by Congress. In a nutshell: “I think it’s paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law,” said Judge KAREN HENDERSON, a GEORGE H.W. BUSH appointee. The buzzy moment: During a back-and-forth between Judge FLORENCE PAN and Trump attorney D. JOHN SAUER, Pan dug into the nitty-gritty of the Trump team’s argument for immunity with a hypothetical that brought out a pretty shocking claim from Sauer. Judge: “I asked you a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question: Could a president who ordered S.E.A.L. Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, who was not impeached, would he be subject to criminal prosecution?” Sauer: “If he were impeached and convicted first—” Judge: “So your answer is no?” Sauer: “My answer is: qualified yes. There is a political process that would have to occur under our Constitution, which would require impeachment and conviction by the Senate.” After a bit more jockeying between the two, Pan sums up her point: “Given that you’re conceding that presidents can be criminally prosecuted under certain circumstances, doesn’t that narrow the issues before us? All of your other arguments seem to fall away.” Listen to the whole exchange, via CNN While the outcome will almost certainly result in a rejection for Trump, the judges appeared divided this morning over how broad to make their ruling. And, of course, whatever length the ruling goes to, it is likely to land on the Supreme Court’s desk with a final determination about whether Trump’s criminal trial in Washington, D.C. will take place this year. NEWS FROM THE HOME TEAM — POLITICO is partnering with Scripps News for a new 2024-centered original series called “The Race – Weekend,” which will air weekly at 9 a.m. ET Saturdays. The series will debut on Jan. 20, to break down the results from the Iowa caucuses and look ahead to the New Hampshire primary, featuring analysis from our very own elections guru Steve Shepard and ace correspondent Natalie Allison. More info here Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at gross@politico.com.   A message from Instagram: More than 75% of parents want to approve the apps teens under 16 download. According to a new poll from Morning Consult, more than 75% of parents agree: Teens under 16 shouldn’t be able to download apps from app stores without parental permission.1 Instagram wants to work with Congress to pass federal legislation that gets it done. Learn more. 1"US Parents Study on Teen App Downloads" by Morning Consult (Meta-commissioned survey of 2,019 parents), Nov. 2023.   7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW Rep. Greg Pence (R-Ind.) is the latest member of Congress to announce his exit. | Carolyn Kaster/AP 1. ON THE WAY OUT: Rep. GREG PENCE announced today that he will retire at the end of his term this year, making him the latest House Republican to head for the exits. Pence, the brother of former VP MIKE PENCE, is also joining a growing list of the Indiana GOP delegation in Congress skipping out on a return to Congress: Rep. LARRY BUCSHON said he would retire yesterday, and with Rep. JIM BANKS running for Senate and Rep. VICTORIA SPARTZ planning to retire, there will be at least four open seats in November. (Pence’s district is heavily red, so it is likely to remain in Republican control.) More from the Indy Star’s Brittany Carloni … Read Pence’s statement As our colleague Adam Wren notes: “There will be no Pence on an Indiana ballot for the first time in 24 years.” 2. MENENDEZ SPEAKS: Sen. BOB MENENDEZ (D-N.J.) took to the Senate floor this morning to speak on the multiple indictments he is facing down amid calls for him to step aside as the legal process plays out, accusing the government at large of conspiring against him to “convict me in the court of public opinion.” “For the administration, the political establishment and for my detractors, it would be much easier to have me exit the scene so that an unjust deal on immigration that won’t really solve our problems at the border but that would hurt the Latino community would be easier to be achieved,” Menendez said. Watch the clip … More from Ursula Perano Sen. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-Pa.), one of Menendez’s chief antagonizers, called the speech a “portrait of courage,” and asked: “How can we chuck [GEORGE] SANTOS, but keep a sleazeball like him around?” On the junior Menendez: Hoboken Mayor RAVI BHALLA “has already raised an astronomical $1 million to take on Rep. ROBERT J. MENENDEZ in New Jersey’s 8th district, setting up a fierce primary fight against a freshman congressman,” the New Jersey Globe’s David Wildstein reports.   GLOBAL PLAYBOOK IS TAKING YOU TO DAVOS! Unlock the insider's guide to one of the world's most influential gatherings as POLITICO's Global Playbook takes you behind the scenes of the 2024 World Economic Forum. Author Suzanne Lynch will be on the ground in the Swiss Alps, bringing you the exclusive conversations, shifting power dynamics and groundbreaking ideas shaping the agenda in Davos. Stay in the know with POLITICO's Global Playbook, your VIP pass to the world’s most influential gatherings. SUBSCRIBE NOW.     3. WHAT THE SHELL?: “Oversight Chairman James Comer’s ‘Legitimate’ Shell Company Was Shut Down — Twice,” by The Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger: “A review of dozens of tax, real estate, and business filings in Kentucky and Tennessee indicate that Comer’s own personal ‘books and records’ are opaque at best — and improper at worst. … The opacity of Comer’s disclosures — along with his contradictory defenses of the shell company — mean the public still doesn’t have a clear picture of his finances. And Comer’s broadsides targeting HUNTER BIDEN’s cloudy corporate entities would seem to invite parallel scrutiny into the similar haze that has settled over his own business dealings. A Comer spokesperson did not reply to The Daily Beast’s detailed comment request.” 4. BLINKEN ABROAD: In meetings with Israeli government officials this morning, Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN urged them “to limit civilian casualties in Gaza, avoid all-out war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and get serious about planning for what comes after the fighting finally ends,” WaPo’s Steve Hendrix and John Hudson report from Jerusalem. “But the gaps between the Israelis and Arab leaders remain vast as far-right members of the [BENJAMIN] NETANYAHU government call for the mass displacement of civilians from Gaza and have dismissed American calls for a ‘revamped and revitalized’ Palestinian Authority to play a role in postwar Gaza.” Related read: “A Glimpse Inside a Devastated Gaza,” by NYT’s Patrick Kingsley: “In the ruins of two Gazan towns, New York Times journalists witnessed the sheer destruction that Israel’s war has wrought and the devastation of Hamas’s operations.”   A message from Instagram:   5. GEORGIA ON MY MIND: “Georgia court weighs voting machines at heart of Trump election fraud claims,” by John Sakellariadis: “A federal court will begin hearing arguments Tuesday that Georgia’s voting machines are so vulnerable to hacks they violate voters’ rights — a high-stakes case that could result in statewide voting changes before the presidential election, and fuel Donald Trump’s false claims of widespread election fraud. The civil suit dates back to 2017 and was brought by an election transparency nonprofit called The Coalition for Good Governance. The organization is pushing Georgia to ditch its touchscreen voting systems and instead make paper ballots the default form of voting statewide.” 6. CLOCKING THE CLIMATE CRISIS: The world is blowing past another critical climate marker, with no signs of slowing down: “The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed a milestone Tuesday that scientists had long predicted: 2023’s average global temperature surpassed the previous peak set in 2016, and reached the highest mark since record-keeping began in 1880,” our colleague Zack Colman writes. “Even more ominously, those surging temperatures are quickly jeopardizing the most ambitious target that nations around the world agreed to in the Paris climate agreement more than eight years ago: Limiting the Earth’s warming since pre-industrial times to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Based on last year’s peak, the world briefly flirted with warming 1.48 degrees.” Related read: “2023 Was a Year of Extreme Weather. Some Scientists Expect More in 2024,” by WSJ’s Eric Niiler   POLITICO AT CES® 2024: We are going ALL On at CES 2024 with a special edition of the POLITICO Digital Future Daily newsletter. The CES-focused newsletter will take you inside the most powerful tech event in the world, featuring revolutionary products that cut across verticals, and insights from industry leaders that are shaping the future of innovation. The newsletter runs from Jan. 9-12 and will focus on the public policy-related aspects of the gathering. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of the show.     7. DIRE STATE: The World Bank is warning of the dire state of the global economy, “saying a sluggish recovery from the pandemic and crippling wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are expected to weigh heavily on output,” NYT’s Alan Rappeport reports. “In its semiannual Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank projected that the growth in world output will slow further in 2024, declining to 2.4 percent from 2.6 percent. Although the global economy has been surprisingly resilient, the report warned that its forecasts were subject to heightened uncertainty because of the two wars, a diminished Chinese economy and the increasing risks of natural disasters caused by global warming. The converging crises in recent years have put the world economy on track for the weakest half-decade in 30 years.” PLAYBOOKERS TRANSITIONS — Louie Kahn is now digital director/acting press secretary for Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.). 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