‘… I think the death penalty’: A Fox News host disgustingly suggests a violently cruel punishment for Trump prosecutors
Trump and his cronies speak of the president-elect as if he were a king, not a public servant. Despite the litany of felonies of which Trump has been both accused and convicted, his staunchest supporters believe that the prosecutors who leveled these charges against him are guilty of some type of treason.
One of the most disturbing statements comes from Fox News host Dana Perino, who suggested that anyone who stands against Trump in a court of law should face “the death penalty.”
While discussing Trump’s legal troubles, the hosts of Fox News’ The Five were quick to deliver sentences of their own. “A lot of the people that were on this that wanted it so badly, how are they going to survive? Do you think they need therapy?” quipped Greg Gutfeld to his colleagues. “Yes, they definitely need therapy and maybe also the death penalty,” Perino chimed in. “Yes, I think the death penalty,” Gutfeld agreed.
As Fox News jokes about its own sick brand of justice, Trump’s prosecutors are scrambling to make legal sense of the incumbent president’s pending cases. He is the first convicted felon ever to be elected to the nation’s highest office, as well as the first convicted rapist, but his newfound status as president-elect is causing a considerable legal headache to all of those who would see him put behind bars.
After being found guilty of 34 separate offenses at the culmination of his hush money trial involving Stormy Daniels, Trump is scheduled to appear in court on November 28 for sentencing. Trump’s legal team will likely fight tooth and nail to prevent that from happening. According to CNN, Trump’s attorneys will likely attempt to argue that, as president-elect, Trump is immune from prosecution under constitutional protections.
This of course comes on the heels of the recent Supreme Court decision to give Trump an unprecedented amount of legal protection against prosecution. Trump was granted partial immunity from special counsel Jack Smith’s case for election subversion. “The President is not above the law,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in his opinion for the 6-3 conservative majority. “But Congress may not criminalize the president’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the executive branch under the Constitution.” Because tampering with an election falls under presidential purview, apparently. Now the issue has been kicked back to state courts, delaying the proceedings further.
It’s up to Judge Juan Merchan whether or not to overturn Trump’s conviction in light of his recent election win. If he does, Trump will not need to appear for sentencing, as his conviction will be thrown out. If Merchan decides not to overturn, then Trump’s lawyers will likely attempt to appeal the issue back up to the Supreme Court once more. In that scenario, Trump’s potential sentence could range from four years of jail time at the most extreme, to a lesser sentence of a fine or community service. At this point, it’s unclear exactly when Trump would serve that sentence if convicted. It’s possible that he could serve time after his term as president has ended. Does this mean that he’ll be leaving the White House in handcuffs? I hope so.
While it’s highly unlikely that Trump’s prosecutors will be put to death as Fox News’ hosts so sickly suggest, their efforts towards conviction and sentencing will likely be further stymied by Trump’s legal team. Is a state judge allowed to sentence the President of the United States to prison? Will Trump’s pending legal cases be tossed out now that he is president-elect and enjoys constitutional protections? There are no clear answers, and those answers could likely take months, even years to come to light.
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