Elena Kagan Asks If POTUS Could Stage A Coup. Guess What Trump Lawyer Said?
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan briefly stunned John Sauer, Donald Trump's attorney, by asking if the president could stage a coup.
The confrontation came Thursday during oral arguments before the high court about whether Trump enjoys presidential immunity for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump is fighting charges of election interference from special counsel Jack Smith.
Sauer repeatedly argued that the president could not be charged unless he was first impeached and convicted by the Senate.
"Well, he's gone," Kagan proposed. "Let's say this president who ordered the military to stage a coup, he's no longer president. He wasn't impeached. He couldn't be impeached. But he ordered the military to "That's immune?" Kagan pressed.
"I think it would depend on the circumstances whether it was an official act," Sauer said cautiously. "If it were an official act, again, he would have to be impeached...stage a coup, and you're saying that's an official act."