MSNBC host Jen Psaki and legal analyst Andrew Weissman joined forces Sunday and scrutinized Donald Trump’s chances at evading criminal liability in his Jan 6. criminal case. Lawyers for Trump have argued the federal charges against him should be dismissed due to “presidential immunity,” a request that Weissman described as “a dead loser.”
Weissman told Psaki, “The main issue here is I think there’s no question that Donald Trump is going to lose on his argument that he is somehow absolved of all criminal liability because he is a former president.”
The pair also speculated that the Trump team might be fully aware of this and filed the motion in a bid to delay the trial. As Weissman put it, “The main issue is that currently there is a full stay ahead of the trial date. And so that was scheduled, and it technically is still scheduled, for March 4. But the thing I’m keeping my eye on is what happens to that stay.
“Does the D.C. circuit do anything to tighten up any steps that Donald Trump can take after it rules to delay things further, or whether they’re going to allow the trial court to move forward quickly?” Weissman asked.
Psaki then asked Weissman if the appeals court could “unstick this whole process.” Weissman explained that an appeal is typically made after a verdict is rendered in a case, but that “this apparently falls into an exception” to that rule… at least, it might. He said, “I say ‘apparently’ because it’s not really clear that this should have been allowed for what’s called an ‘interlocutory appeal.’”
He added that it “seems clear” the D.C. Circuit Court will talk about this specific issue this coming Tuesday.
As noted by Axios and others, no former or sitting president has ever found themselves in the position Trump is currently in, and no former or sitting president has ever been denied or granted immunity from criminal charges. Of course, that’s because no former or sitting president, except for Trump, has ever received criminal charges in the first place.
Watch the interview with Andrew Weissman in the video above.
