President Joe Biden’s farewell address came with a stern reminder: “no president is immune from crimes,” including the president-elect .
Sadly, the United States Supreme Court isn’t inclined to agree. In their landmark ruling for Trump vs. The United States, the conservative led high court decided to grant presidents and ex-presidents sweeping immunity from prosecution for “all his official acts.” While court also stipulated that presidents receive “no immunity for unofficial acts,” it left the line between “official” and “unofficial” deliberately blurry. President Biden blasted the ruling, saying that the immunity decision set a “dangerous precedent” and left “virtually no limits” on the nation’s highest executive office.
The Supreme Court’s ruling was exploited by Trump when he and his legal team sought to use the Supreme Court’s ruling in an attempt to block Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case. While the Supreme Court declined to block the sentencing, the New York State judge presiding over the case issued a rare and lenient sentence of “unconditional discharge,” which means that while Trump is now officially felon, he will serve no jail time nor be subject to probation.
According to the hush money trial judge Juan Merchan, Trump was given an unconditional discharge due to his status as president-elect. Merchan called the unconditional discharge the “the only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgment of conviction without encroaching upon the highest office in the land.” Merchan went on to say that if Trump were an “ordinary citizen” he would not “be entitled to such considerable protections.”
Merchan isn’t the only legal official who believes that Trump got off easy. In a damning report published by Special Counsel Jack Smith, Smith wrote that were it not for Trump’s status as president-elect, he would likely be convicted for crimes stemming from his actions on January 6th, when he incited an angry mob to attack the U.S. Capitol building in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results. The Special Counsel also wrote that his office has uncovered enough evidence to convict Trump for keeping classified documents at Mar a Lago and failing to turn them over to the FBI. The Department of Justice then announced that it was wrapping up its investigation into Trump due to the agency’s long standing rule against charging sitting presidents with crimes.
Criminal presidents weren’t the only thing that Biden warned Americans about in his farewell address. The president also stressed the danger of American elites, saying “an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy.” Biden’s fears are not unfounded. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, was able to use his enormous wealth in order to exert an unprecedented amount of influence in the Republican Party. After donating over a quarter billion dollars to the Trump campaign, Musk has since been ever at the president-elect’s side. He’s currently shelling out $2,000 a night to stay at a cottage on the grounds of Mar a Lago, and has reportedly sat in on calls between Trump and other world leaders. After Musk was able to tank a painstakingly negotiated bipartisan spending bill with a series of tweets, lawmakers soon labeled the billionaire as a “Shadow President” who was secretly pulling Trump’s strings.
While Trump has promised the bring in a new “US Golden Age” Biden reminds Americans that only one piece of Trump’s legacy is assured. He is the first ever felon to be elected president, and if something isn’t done soon, he might not be the last.
Published: Jan 17, 2025 04:18 am