The issue of whether President Trump can break some laws with immunity is not a new one. In 2019 Sean Illing addressed this matter in Vox , with comments by more than a dozen lawyers. This is a piece well worth reading as it points to some of the uncertainties in our laws and our constitution. What's interesting is that it is possible that a president could be arrested and charged for local or state crimes. This remains unclear.
Sean Illing, 2019 - President Trump’s lawyer argued in a federal court on Wednesday morning that he could not be prosecuted for a crime even if he shot someone in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue. Attorneys for Trump made the argument during an appeals court case against Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, who is seeking Trump’s tax returns as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
The doctrine that a sitting president is immune from criminal indictment or prosecution is not new. The Department of Justice has a longstanding policy, outlined by the Office of Legal Counsel, that a sitting president cannot be charged with a federal crime.
Special counsel Robert Mueller famously invoked this policy (to be clear, it’s a policy, not law) when he summarized the results of his Russia investigation. “The special counsel’s office is part of the Department of Justice,” Mueller said, “and by regulation it was bound by that department policy. Charging the president with a crime was, therefore, not an option we could consider.”
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