The Supreme Court could rule that former President Donald Trump is entitled to presidential immunity for official actions taken while in office, but not for his personal actions, former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano said.
"I listened to all three hours and 20 minutes of the oral argument yesterday, and I think it comes down to this: Was the behavior alleged to be criminal official acts of the president pursuant to the presidency, or personal acts of Donald Trump pursuant to his personal interest?" Napolitano said Friday on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
Napolitano said that if the acts are deemed to be personal, then a jury will need to decide if the actions leading up to and after the Jan. 6, 2021 events at the U.S. Capitol were criminal and if he can be prosecuted through charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
The Supreme Court on Thursday finished hearing oral arguments about whether Trump can claim immunity from prosecution over alleged crimes committed while he was in office.
If the court makes a ruling concerning immunity from prosecution for official acts but not for personal ones, that would be a "partial win" for him, said Napolitano.
"He was asking for full immunity, which would have wiped out the entire case," he said. "If I'm correct, the case will go back to the trial court."
Napolitano predicted the Supreme Court will "try and rush through" its decision and push the matter back to the trial court so it could seat a jury and determine if Trump's actions were official in nature or personal.
Napolitano added that the "Constitution is silent on this issue," but still, "The concept of the presidency itself has to give the president a little bit of maneuvering room."
Smith wants to start Trump's trial as soon as possible, and Napolitano said he expects the Supreme Court's ruling on Trump's immunity motion will come down as its last case of the session, which ends June 30.
That means Smith and his team, just after July 4, will say they are ready to start their trial, Napolitano said.
"They can't start the trial right way, but it is theoretically possible to get it in before Election Day," Napolitano said.
Meanwhile, in Trump's ongoing criminal trial in New York City, Napolitano said the prosecution is trying to prove a pattern of behavior concerning Trump, his former attorney Michael Cohen, and the National Enquirer to kill stories.
"The trial judge in the Harvey Weinstein case, in the same courtroom that Donald Trump is in, by the way, allowed too many prior bad acts of Mr. Weinstein in to prejudice the jury against him," Napolitano said. "This judge may be in danger of doing the same thing with Donald Trump."
Napolitano added that he believes Judge Juan Merchan will rule Friday afternoon on whether Trump violated a gag order that was imposed against him in connection with the trial.
"These are the types of rulings that come down on a sleepy Friday afternoon," Napolitano said. "He really can't wait much longer and then expect to be taken seriously about the gag order. The hearing was on Tuesday. It's now Friday."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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