“Can a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival? That’s an official act, an order to SEAL Team Six.”
During a Tuesday morning hearing in which lawyers for 2024 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump argued before a three-judge panel in Washington DC over whether Trump has presidential immunity in the January 6 and 2020 election case brought forth by Biden's special counsel Jack Smith, a judge on the panel put forth a hypothetical situation in which a president ordered SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival.
Judge Florence Pan posed as a hypothetical after Trump attorney D. John Sauer said a president is immune from criminal prosecution if the action in question was an "official duty," asking "can a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival? That’s an official act, an order to SEAL Team Six."
Sauer said that the president would have to be "impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution."
Pan later questioned, "yes or no question, could a president who ordered SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival [and] was not impeached, could he be subjected to criminal prosecution?"
Sauer said only if the president is impeached and convicted first, later explaining "the answer is qualified yes," explaining that there is a process set in place in such a circumstance for a speedy impeachment.
Pan later added, "I've asked you a series of hypotheticals about criminal actions that could be taken by a president and could be considered official acts and asked you would such a president be subject to criminal prosecution if he's not impeached? And your answer to, your yes or no answer is no."
"I believe I said qualified. Yes. If he's impeached and convicted first," Sauer responded.
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