Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) reportedly told ABC News journalist Rachel Scott that he is open to bringing a bill to the House floor that would grant “current or former presidents” the ability to move criminal charges against them in state courts to federal courts.
Scott says Johnson told her that such a measure “makes sense to most Republicans,” though it would clearly be aimed at a single Republican: former President Donald Trump who faces criminal charges in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
The Georgia case remains an outlier of the three cases still being prosecuted against Trump, as it alone is a state case over which the federal government has no jurisdiction. A president, for example, can’t issue a pardon for a conviction in a state case, nor can a president influence the Department of Justice to drop or bury the case, as state cases aren’t prosecuted by the DOJ.
Speaker Johnson told me today he would support bringing a measure to the floor that would allow current or former presidents to move state charges against them into federal court.
“It makes sense to most Republicans & I think almost everyone will be in favor of that.”
— Rachel Scott (@rachelvscott) June 12, 2024
Conde Nast legal editor Luke Zaleski responded with scorn to the reporting, calling out Johnson for abandoning ostensible Republican principles — such as strong support for states rights — to protect Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
Now they don’t like states rights lol https://t.co/XYA7uA2CMJ
— Luke Zaleski (@ZaleskiLuke) June 12, 2024