Trump's Lawyer Tells Judges That Trump Could Shoot Someone And Skirt Prosecution

Donald Trump could shoot someone in the middle of New Yorks Fifth Avenue and skirt criminal charges as long as hes president, Trumps attorney told a federal appeals court on Wednesday.

William Consovoy, who is representing Trump in a dispute over the presidents tax returns, told U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin that Trump could not be indicted if he shot someone.

Nothing could be done? Thats your position? Chin asked Consovoy.

That is correct. That is correct, Consovoy responded.

Here is Trump's lawyer, William Consovoy, telling Judge Denny Chin that if Trump were to shoot someone on fifth avenue, he could not be criminally investigated while in office.

Very normal argument. pic.twitter.com/xlDBwmCUnR

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Here is Trump's lawyer, William Consovoy, telling Judge Denny Chin that if Trump were to shoot someone on fifth avenue, he could not be criminally investigated while in office.

Very normal argument. pic.twitter.com/xlDBwmCUnR
Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) October 23, 2019

The Fifth Avenue example is a reference to Trumps declaration in January 2016 that he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody without losing any voters.

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Rudy Giuliani, who serves as Trumps personal attorney, told HuffPost last year that Trump couldnt be indicted even if he shot former FBI Director James Comey .

I dont know how you can indict while hes in office. No matter what it is, Giuliani said. If he shot James Comey, hed be impeached the next day. Impeach him, and then you can do whatever you want to do to him.

The three judges on the panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit appeared skeptical that Trump could block District Attorney Cyrus Vances office from accessing Trumps tax returns through a subpoena, The New York Times reported .

The Justice Departments longstanding position is that federal prosecutors cannot indict a sitting president, an issue that impacted Robert Muellers special counsel report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller said in May that because a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office that charging Trump with a crime was not an option we could consider.

When Mueller testified before the House Judiciary Committee in July, a number of Republicans argued that because federal prosecutors couldnt indict Trump that Mueller and federal authorities never should have investigated Trumps conduct in the first place.