In a video posted to his account on the social media platform Truth Social close to midnight on the night before he appeared in a federal appeals court in D.C. amid arguments for a wide-ranging view of presidential immunity, Donald Trump appeared to ominously threaten sitting President Joe Biden. Trump seemed to suggest he’d pursue Biden with consequences that in reality would likely be outside the law if the Republican becomes president again.
Trump also, in general terms, defended what he was doing after the 2020 election in trying to hold power despite losing as supposedly innocuous. His team’s idea in court is that wide-ranging immunity from criminal prosecution should cover presidents’ official actions in office. “I was looking for voter fraud, something that I have to do under my mandate. I have to look for voter fraud,” Trump said. “And I was finding it. Tremendous amounts of voter fraud in the 2020 election.”
Eventually, he arrived again at tired, right-wing complaints about what’s supposedly transpiring at the southern border, claiming without specific evidence that people are crossing the border who originate in foreign “insane asylums” and that “many terrorists” are arriving. “That’s really allowing insurrection,” Trump claimed, referring to Joe Biden’s supposed role in facilitating/setting up/spurring this imaginary “invasion.” Trump also claimed, completely without specific substantiation, that the current president had made millions of dollars from foreign sources — something actually seen and documented at Trump’s business.
“I mean, Joe would be ripe for indictment,” Trump said. His apparent idea was that if he loses in his arguments for immunity, then Biden should face criminal consequences for these (imaginary) misdeeds.
Trump seemed thrilled with the possibility of that scenario. “The next president, whoever that may be, has a statute of limitations that go back six years. That’s a long time, Joe. You have to be very careful,” Trump said in the clip.
