President Joe Biden's special counsel Jack Smith, seeking to convict former President Donald Trump for challenging the 2020 presidential election and retaining White House documents under the Presidential Records Act, will threaten democracy by virtual of unwinding presidential immunity, Trump warned Saturday.
"If a president does not have immunity, the opposing party, during his/her term in office, can extort and blackmail the president by saying that, 'if you don't give us everything we want, we will indict you for things you did while in office,' even if everything done was totally legal and appropriate," Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social. "That would be the end of the presidency, and our country, as we know it, and is just one of the many traps there would be for a president without presidential immunity."
All presidents will be subject to the scrutiny the Biden administration Justice Department prosecutors have put their political opponent under, Trump continued.
"Obama, Bush, and soon, Crooked Joe Biden, would all be in BIG TROUBLE," his post added. "If a president doesn't have immunity, he/she will be nothing more than a 'ceremonial' president, rarely having the courage to do what has to be done for our country.
"This is not what the Founders had in mind! Protect presidential immunity. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Trump is seeking the court's blessing on presidential immunity from Smith's indictments, arguing his 2020 presidential election challenge under the premise of pursuing election integrity was done with his official duties as president. Smith and his lawyers reject the court the reject presidential immunity, which Trump warns will ultimately render the president powerless.
"Without presidential immunity, the presidency will lose its power and prestige, and under some leaders, have no power at all," Trump added in another Truth Social post. "The presidency will be consumed by the other branches of government. That is not what your founders wanted!"