Former President Donald Trump, who once said "lock her up" to 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, is once again floating the idea of prosecuting political rivals, including President Joe Biden and lawmakers on the Jan. 6 committee.
There's just one problem with the plan — lawmakers have some legal immunities and privileges related to their legislative activities, one law expert noted.
"Had he ever read the Constitution, Donald Trump would come across the Speech or Debate Clause, which prohibits prosecuting members of Congress for legislative acts," Anthony Michael Kreis, a constitutional law professor at Georgia State University's College of Law faculty, wrote Thursday on X.
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In other words, the clause would ostensibly cover the lawmakers' work on the Jan. 6 committee.
Here's the clause in question, which is found in Article I, Section 6, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution:
"[Senators and Representatives] shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place."
Reaction to Kreis' takedown included predictable jabs at the former president.
"Donald? Read?" questioned one X user.
Another echoed the sentiment: "Okay so first off you are assuming he can read…"
Even so, lawmakers who served on the House Select Committee that investigated the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack have taken steps in recent months to prepare for Trump's potential deployment of the government to go after them if he's elected in November. That includes California Democrat Rep. Zoe Lofgren, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
“If he intends to eliminate our constitutional system and start arresting his political enemies, I guess I would be on that list,” Lofgren told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year. “One thing I did learn on the committee is to pay attention and listen to what Trump says, because he means it.”
“We’re taking this seriously, because we have to,” Schiff told the Times. “We’ve seen this movie before … and how perilous it is to ignore what someone is saying when they say they want to be a dictator.”
