By Douglas V. Gibbs ——Bio and Archives--January 28, 2024

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As the 2024 Election Season approached former President Donald J. Trump was hit with 91 charges for various criminal allegations. While the big ones, according to the talking heads of the media, were insurrection and attempting to overturn an election, technically none of the indictments were specifically regarding those alleged crimes. His political enemies are practicing a game of “death by a thousand cuts.” As Trump has worked to navigate the weaponized legal minefield thrown at him, he made a statement that the press has gone nuts over. He has claimed he has presidential immunity. None of the charges against him, as a result, are legal.

The questions at hand, then, are simple. Is Trump correct? Does he have presidential immunity? Does the United States Constitution address such an issue?

The answers are “yes,” “yes,” and “yes.”

As an instructor regarding the Constitution I had never really looked at this issue, before. I am very familiar with the clause that relates to Trump’s immunity question, but had never recognized it as a clause regarding immunity, before. I never had to. This is unprecedented. Never before in the history of this country have we had a former president attacked with multiple lawsuits while out of office, and while celebrated as the leading candidate in the next Presidential Election. Typically, in history, if a President of the United States serves two terms, they are back-to-back. Only once, prior to Trump, did the occasion of divided terms emerge. Grover Cleveland was the only President to leave office after serving four years only to return for a second term four years later. He was the 22nd President from 1885-1889, and the 24th President from 1893-1897. A........

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