Donald Trump cannot be criminally charged for his pandemic response
By Jonathan Turley, opinion contributor — 04/21/20 12:00 PM EDT
If there is one consistent element to the opposition to President Trump, it is an overriding desire not just for a political but for a criminal solution to his tenure in office. Within a couple of weeks of his taking office, critics were calling for his jailing and, over the last three years, experts have claimed a basis for a dozen criminal charges. The failure of any of these claims to materialize has not deterred experts in declaring new theories for prosecuting the commander in chief.
The criminal code has been a cathartic release for Trump critics, delivered by a host of experts willing to distort controlling law to meet the demand for new charges. From campaign finance allegations to the Russian investigation to Stormy Daniels to the Ukraine military aid, every controversy has been attended by claims of clear criminal acts. We can now add the pandemic. The logic seems to be that, if you continue to work through the criminal code, eventually you are bound to be right.
Newsweek and the Washington Post have run pieces raising new criminal charges, even though both were flagrantly at odds with controlling definitions and cases. In the Post, Mary McCord, a former acting assistant attorney general for national security at the Department of Justice, makes an entirely frivolous claim that Trump could be charged with criminal incitement for a couple tweets in which he spurred citizens in states like Michigan and Minnesota to “liberate†their states. Many criticized the tweets as irresponsible and inflammatory.
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https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/493837-donald-trump-cannot-be-criminally-charged-for-his-pandemic-response
