Former President Donald Trump‘s lawyer John Sauer is arguing in the Supreme Court that former presidents are entitled to absolute immunity for their “official” acts. Trump is being prosecuted for alleged crimes related to trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election while he occupied the White House and has asked SCOTUS to immunize him against prosecution.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was asked on Fox News, “On the off chance that the Supreme Court comes back and does not say that presidents are immune for official acts, do you think your administration would pursue charges say Barack Obama for the drone strikes?”
[Note: During the first Obama administration, Attorney General Eric Holder informed Congress that U.S. drone strikes had killed four Americans — three of whom were “not specifically targeted” — in counterterrorism strikes “outside of areas of active hostilities.”]
Paxton replied: “Every state is different and I actually don’t have the authority, unfortunately, in my state I cannot prosecute unless I’m referred by a District Attorney, but I certainly think that if there’s no immunity, that that ought to be considered.”
Paxton added: “So if somehow…Barack Obama should be prosecuted just like Donald Trump — they should be treated the same.”
NOTE: When Trump became POTUS, he revoked a policy set by Obama “requiring US intelligence officials to publish the number of civilians killed in drone strikes outside of war zones.” According to BBC, “The Trump administration said the rule was ‘superfluous’ and distracting.”
According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, there were 2,243 drone strikes in the first two years of the Trump presidency, compared with 1,878 in Obama’s eight years in office.
Former President Donald Trump‘s lawyer John Sauer is arguing in the Supreme Court that former presidents are entitled to absolute immunity for their “official” acts. Trump is being prosecuted for alleged crimes related to trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election while he occupied the White House and has asked SCOTUS to immunize him against prosecution.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was asked on Fox News, “On the off chance that the Supreme Court comes back and does not say that presidents are immune for official acts, do you think your administration would pursue charges say Barack Obama for the drone strikes?”
[Note: During the first Obama administration, Attorney General Eric Holder informed Congress that U.S. drone strikes had killed four Americans — three of whom were “not specifically targeted” — in counterterrorism strikes “outside of areas of active hostilities.”]
Paxton replied: “Every state is different and I actually don’t have the authority, unfortunately, in my state I cannot prosecute unless I’m referred by a District Attorney, but I certainly think that if there’s no immunity, that that ought to be considered.”
Paxton added: “So if somehow…Barack Obama should be prosecuted just like Donald Trump — they should be treated the same.”
NOTE: When Trump became POTUS, he revoked a policy set by Obama “requiring US intelligence officials to publish the number of civilians killed in drone strikes outside of war zones.” According to BBC, “The Trump administration said the rule was ‘superfluous’ and distracting.”
According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, there were 2,243 drone strikes in the first two years of the Trump presidency, compared with 1,878 in Obama’s eight years in office.