Former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb said the former president is the “gravest threat to democracy that we’ve ever seen. “
Trump’s lawyers argued in front of a three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that his election subversion case should be dismissed because former presidents can only face prosecution if they are impeached and then convicted by the Senate.
Trump attorney John Sauer answered with a “qualified yes” when asked by Judge Florence Pan if a former president would not face prosecution even if he ordered SEAL Team Six to assassinate his political rival .
“He would have to be impeached and convicted,” Sauer said.
In an interview with CNN’s “Erin Burnett Outfront” Burnett said the “jarring” exchange puts Trump’s praise of dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin into context.
“I think you have to take Trump seriously because he poses the gravest threat to democracy that we’ve ever seen.” Cobb said.
“On the other hand, I think his legal arguments are interposed solely for delay,” Cobb continued. “I think as the special counsel’s lawyer argued today…it would be very scary if there is no accountability for the types of conduct that have been charge here, when a president tries to prevent the peaceful transfer of power and uses the levers available to him to subvert the Democratic Republic and the electoral system.”
“I think the lack of accountability that he desires, which Putin has, the Ayatollah has, Xi has, as you as you alluded to, I think that he may want an America that is like that,” Cobb said.
