Legal question regarding impeachment.

[Flaleftist]

Republicans are saying it wasn’t constitutional to impeach a former president. To my understanding, a president can not be prosecuted for his crimes unless he is impeached and convicted. So are they saying the DOJ is free to prosecute Trump for the insurrection now that he is a private citizen. Or are they saying a president can do anything he wants in his last days in office without consequences?

[TwilightZone]

1. They are saying he can now be prosecuted.

McConnell basically begged someone to do so.

[servermsh]

2. I'm a little confused by your post.

- The Republican argument is just a dodge. They know full well a former President can be impeached.

- Any former President can be prosecuted. IMHO, I believe a sitting President can be prosecuted, regardless of what the DOJ says. He just can't be removed from office that way.

- Republicans are effectively saying an outgoing President can't be impeached if there isn't enough time left in his term. But this argument is nonsense of course and they would happily impeach a former Democratic president if they could.

[Eyeball_Kid]

3. There is nothing in the Constitution that prevents a president from being indicted and prosecuted

WHILE IN OFFICE. A DOJ memo, and not the Constitution, advises against it. It's not binding. Impeachment and Senate convictions are not connected to criminal nor civil prosecutions. Impeachments are political procedures and are not related to criminal or civil prosecutions. However, evidence gathered in impeachments CAN be used in criminal and civil trials.

[frazzled]

4. Short answer

McConnell made sure to recess the Senate until after the inauguration so that the House could not deliver the articles of impeachment until after Trump was no longer president. Then he argued that he believed you couldn’t impeach a former president, even though the Senate voted definitively that it was indeed constitutional just several days earlier. All while arguing that, yeah, he really did commit the crime of which he was accused.

Got it?

[Thunderbeast]

5. He CAN and SHOULD be prosecuted for ALL of it!

Trump-Russia crimes identified in the Mueller Report

Crimes that the DOJ failed to investigate relative to the 2016 election (those willfully excluded from Mueller's investigation).

Financial and FEC crimes related to the 2017 inauguration.

Bribery, election fraud, and obstruction in the 2020 Ukraine operation.

Sedition and related crimes post-election including incitement to riot and vote tampering in multiple states.

Accessory to murder (Capitol Police Officer).

These are just the possible Federal crimes. Georgia and New York have their own list of criminal and civil actions teed up.

And...Last but not Least is the defamation suit that is alive and well being brought by E. Jean Carroll. She is said to have DNA evidence to support her rape assertion, and has NO INTEREST in a settlement that does not bring out the whole truth.

If the new "PATRIOT PARTY" or a GOP energized by Q and Trump think the twice-impeached former President will have time to carry their racist banner, they might want to consider just how many days he will be in court or jail between now and coming elections.