Thomas B. Edsall, NY Times - Donald Trump, well on his way to becoming the most corrupt president in American history, will almost certainly escape criminal prosecution after leaving office.
Even though Trump has defied the law and the Constitution more egregiously in his second term than he did in his first, most legal experts agree that he will face few, if any, of the kind of prosecutions he was confronted with after grudgingly leaving office in 2021.
The one possible, though far from probable, exception is the Trump family’s involvement in the cybercurrency business through its 60 percent ownership of World Liberty Financial. World Liberty has made profits exceeding hundreds of millions from investments by men who have been granted pardons and by corporations that have benefited from the halt or suspension of regulatory investigations by the Trump administration.
On Jan. 10, speaking at a news conference before returning to the White House on Jan. 20, Trump said that he would turn over all management responsibilities of the family’s business empire to his sons Donald Jr. and Eric and claimed that he would not be involved in day-to-day business decisions.
While Trump’s culpability in the case of his family’s crypto business may seem crystal clear to some, legal experts contend that the conservative majority on the Supreme Court has so muddied the law that prosecutors would face many hurdles — perhaps insurmountable — trying to bring a case against him.
During the four years he was out of office, Trump was charged with more that 80 criminal counts in four separate criminal proceedings.
In large part, Trump owes his current insulation from potential prosecution to the 2024 Supreme Court decision Trump v. United States, which granted the president “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”
Philip Lacovara, former counsel to the Watergate special prosecutor and deputy solicitor general, replied by email to my questions about Trump’s legal prospects.
”In my view,” Lacovara wrote, "there is virtually no chance that Trump will face criminal prosecution."
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