Sen. Mike Lee says prosecuting Trump is ‘dangerous’

Sen. Mike Lee said Friday prosecuting Donald Trump for events that took place while he was president is “dangerous.”

This week Trump was charged for his alleged involvement in trying to overturn the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In a series of posts on social media, Lee, R-Utah, cited a Wall Street Journal opinion piece written by two conservative attorneys, David Rivkin Jr. and Lee Casey, about the implications of prosecuting a former president.

The Constitution gives the sitting president immunity from lawsuits while in office. It also covers actions that are in the “outer perimeter” of the official duties, the article said.

Because of this immunity, such a prosecution “would cripple the ability of all future presidents to perform their constitutional responsibilities vigorously and fearlessly,” the article, cited by Lee, said.

It also questioned whether attorney Jack Smith, the special counsel presiding over two of Trump’s indictments, is focused “on whether (Trump) honestly believed the election had been stolen from him.”

Instead, the opinion piece suggested, Smith should question if Trump’s actions after the 2020 election fell within his presidential responsibilities.

Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland last November. His first indictment against Trump was related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents.

A president has the authority to “com­mu­ni­cate with, ca­jole and even brow­beat of­fi­cials over whom he has no su­per­vi­sory au­thor­ity, urg­ing them to pur­sue poli­cies that he be­lieves are in the na­tional in­ter­est,” the opinion piece said.

The opinion article cited Trump and President Joe Biden’s actions to pressure states to follow COVID-19 recommendations — “Wise or not, those were un­doubt­edly of­fi­cial ac­tions,” it stated.

“The Supreme Court will al­most cer­tainly be called on to de­ter­mine the scope of a for­mer pres­i­dent’s im­mu­nity and whether Mr. Trump’s ac­tions af­ter the 2020 elec­tion fell within the outer reaches of his of­fi­cial re­spon­si­bil­ities.”

Trump, who faces four charges, pled not guilty during an arraignment on Thursday. He said on Truth Social that the latest charges against him indicate “election interference.”

Meanwhile, Lee concluded that “the applicable precedent, and the reasons for presidential immunity, seem to cut strongly against this indictment.”