Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Can a sitting president be arrested?

The United Russia party in Congress would never allow Trump to be impeached.

So, can he be arrested? Or is the only legal vehicle for criminally charging a sitting prez impeachment?

I cannot think of a reason why he could not be charged. We will ignore the Prophet Muhammad's adage that the first person to reason by analogy was the Devil and do just that.

Let's say, oh let's just say that a D.C. beat cop sees a man smoking what appears to be crack, in the manner that the officer is accustomed to seeing crack smoked, in an alley. Upon contact he sees that the crack head is Trump.

Why could the beat cop not arrest Trump. I cannot think of a reason why he could not. The cop would take Trump to jail, write his arrest affidavit, submit it to the local D.A.'s office, they'd file the charge in court. That's how they would handle any crack case. Trump does not have immunity from street crime.

But what if the crime was in the official performance of the POTUS' duties and a result of those official duties, like here with Comey? Something tells me...After 35 years in this bidness my instincts are usually correct but I never rely on them. Always check. My instincts tell me, no. I will check.

A street crime arrest, even conviction, would not remove a POTUS from office. Impeachment is the only way to do that. But Trump would never be charged in Congress, thus this exercise. Was it good for you too?