Washington, DC—Today, Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) issued the following statement on the decision by the United States Supreme Court in Trump v. United States:

“Today, the Supreme Court took a bulldozer to the democratic credo that no one—including presidents and former presidents—is above the law.  Three years ago, after Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, Mitch McConnell explained, ‘We have a criminal justice system in this country…  And former Presidents are not immune from being held accountable.’  But today, far-right justices embedded with the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement conferred broad immunity on Donald Trump, even going so far as to help him keep evidence of his criminal actions from coming to light in a court of law.  Today’s ruling, postponing any prosecution of Trump until after the election and holding that Presidents are presumptively immune from criminal prosecution for using their office to assassinate political rivals, organize a military coup, or take bribes, is a radical break from the rule of law which underscores how much our democratic values have been eroded and are on the line in November.  Donald Trump has made it clear that, if he wins election, he will use his presidential powers to pardon all his co-conspirators and weaponize the Justice Department by firing career employees and replacing them with an army of sycophants willing to engage in retributive harassment against his political opponents.  All of this would be presumably allowable under today’s horrific decision.”

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