Trump Not Immune From Criminal Referral, Lawmakers Argue

Donald Trump cannot hide behind immunity from criminal prosecution and he faces the possibility of being debarred from running for public office over his role in the Capitol attack, several members of Congress said on Sunday (Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, in Manila), Ed Pilkington reported for The Guardian.

Photo Insert: “It’s the difference between, was the president absolutely incompetent or a coward on 6 January when he didn’t do anything or did he know what was coming? That’s a difference between incompetence with your oath and possibly criminal," said Republican Adam Kinzinger.

Days after the anniversary of the 6 January insurrection that left five people dead and scores injured after Trump supporters attempted to scupper the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, the threat of possible criminal proceedings looms large over the former president.

Lawmakers from both main parties, including moderate Republicans, warned on Sunday that Trump will not be spared criminal liability should evidence emerge that he actively coordinated the attack.

A Republican senator, Mike Rounds from South Dakota, told ABC’s “This Week” that any immunity from prosecution that Trump enjoyed while in the White House evaporated on 20 January 2021, when he left office. “The shield of the presidency does not exist for someone who was a former president – everybody in this country is subject to the courts of this country,” Rounds said.

Adam Kinzinger, a Republican congressman from Illinois who sits on Jan. 6 committee, underlined the laser-like focus of the investigation on Trump’s potential complicity. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he said the key question now was: “What did the president know about 6 January leading up to 6 January?”

Kinzinger added that the panel wanted to know why Trump failed to take any action for almost three hours while the violence at the Capitol was unfolding on his TV screen. Was it a sign of weakness or complicity?

“It’s the difference between, was the president absolutely incompetent or a coward on 6 January when he didn’t do anything or did he know what was coming? That’s a difference between incompetence with your oath and possibly criminal.”

While the question of whether the former president broke the law is fast rising up the political agenda, Congress is also considering another potential route to hold Trump accountable for the violence of a year ago: action under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

Section 3 of the amendment holds that nobody in elected federal office, including the president, should engage in “insurrection or rebellion” against the union. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland who led the second impeachment of Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” told ABC the 14th Amendment might yet be “a blockade for [Trump] ever being able to run for office again.”

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