WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Former President Trump’s campaign fate is in the hands of the nine justices of the Supreme Court and yet Trump used the press conference at Mar-a-Lago to air grievances about a range of topics.
For one of the first times, Trump departed from his typical, unsubstantiated claim of a stolen election in 2020.
“Had the results of the election been different, that’d be nice,” he said before claiming that the war in Ukraine, the October 7th attack in Israel, inflation and China rumoring to want to reclaim Taiwan would not have happened.
This press conference came shortly after the Supreme Court had heard oral arguments regarding the Colorado ruling that holds him ineligible due to his role as an insurrectionist on January 6th, 2021. Trump said, “I thought it was a very beautiful process. I hope that democracy in this country will continue.”
In this case, Trump’s lawyers argue that as president, he was not an officer of the United States and therefore the 14th amendment does not apply.
The 14th amendment:
“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
Trump also said he believes that he is broadly immune from prosecution as president. He appears to be referencing the U.S. Federal Appeals Court decision that come out Tuesday.
In the decision, a three-judge panel unanimously concluded “that the interest in criminal accountability, held by both the public and the Executive Branch, outweighs the potential risks of chilling Presidential action and permitting vexatious litigation.”
