re: #182 KGxvi

I’m really not sure if a state could bring criminal charges against a sitting president. That’s a whole new level of constitutional crisis. My gut would say that they could not (imagine some wingnut state AG bringing an indictment against a Democratic president, even on the flimsiest of grounds).

As for the presidential perp walk, what I imagine is Trump pacing the halls of the Capitol as the Senate votes on impeachment. And once that 67th vote for removal comes, him trying to return to the White House and the Secret Service stopping him and saying, “I’m sorry, sir, but you’re not authorized to be here.”

Realistically, there has to be a way to bring criminal charges vs. a sitting president. For example, suppose Trump really were to shoot someone on 5th avenue in broad daylight in front of hundreds of witnesses tomorrow. Saying that Congress would have to act to remove Trump from office via impeachment before anything else could be done is not an acceptable answer.

Edited to add: I agree that there’s a real concern with letting the states have too much power here, since state-level wingnuts would like nothing better than to arrest a (D) president for ‘presidenting while being a Democrat’. There’s just no good answers to the problems posed by an absolutely lawless US president.