The Presidential Privilege: America needs to end the trend of turning a blind eye to criminal activity done by Presidents

Trump supporters are flooding the streets of New York in the wake of former-president Donald Trump’s indictment and his warning of “death and destruction”. His charges involve the embarrassing cover-up of his alleged affair with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.

But he’s not the only leader under heavy investigation as President Joe Biden may face similar charges related to the unlawful possession of classified documents. 

While Trump prepares a number of outrageous comments to battle Congress’s so-called “Witch Hunt,” Biden has complete immunity to any criminal charges while occupying the Presidential seat.

The only way Biden could be jailed for any crime would be through a tedious and highly-partisan impeachment trial. That seems unfair doesn’t it?

Presidents should be held personally accountable for any crimes carried out while in office and thus should not be immune to indictment, prosecution and arrest simply because they have their face on the wall of the oval office.

The President is the poster boy of our country for four years. They’re the lens through which the rest of the world sees the United States. We should all want our commander-in-chief to positively represent our country. We should want them to be a model citizen, someone with integrity, whom we can trust and even look up to. 

Our most beloved Presidents — Washington, Lincoln and FDR — are all leaders we can look up to.

If a president has committed crimes and is poorly representing our country, yet is unable to be removed from office through impeachment, there’s a clear problem. They should be held to the same standards as civilians. If they’ve committed a crime, they should be subject to the same punishment.

Presidential immunity is a widely-debated gray area of the Constitution. Hardly anything is written on the subject, so the Department of Justice is left with complete control of the matter. 

The DOJ established in the 1970s that though the Vice President can be criminally prosecuted, the President can’t. Their reasoning behind this matter is that if the president is criminally prosecuted they’re going to be distracted, unable to function and may change various policies in order to regain public approval.

Though a criminal trial would distract the sitting president, the Constitution lays out an easy solution when the sitting president is unable to perform their duties. The Vice President would simply take their place while the trial is underway, just as he would do if the President was ill or announced resignation. Executive powers would be upheld without interference.

If the President is acquitted, they could return to their normal duties after the trial. However, if they are convicted, the Vice President would assume his powers. It’s a straightforward solution and disproves the DOJ’s theory that a criminal trial would distract the president.  

The U.S. has had problems with criminally prosecuting presidents before Trump as well.

President Bill Clinton was acquitted of perjury in his 1998 impeachment trial, even after he was proven to have lied under oath, a crime that typically results in five years in prison. Clinton wasn’t removed from office simply because the Senate didn’t believe his crime was a big enough reason, according to CBS news. 

Same goes for former-President Nixon who illegally ordered a break-in to the Democratic National Headquarters. 

His crimes were serious enough that he needed a presidential pardon to avoid legal action once resigning, it only seems fair that he should have been subject to criminal prosecution in the year between the scandal and his resignation. 

This attitude sets a poor example for all the people of the United States, but also allows presidents to commit crimes, knowing they can escape without a scratch. 

A common misconception regarding presidential immunity is that only crumbling countries send their leaders to jail and it’d be outrageous for our country to do the same. Not only would it be embarrassing, but it would send our country into disrepair.

This simply isn’t true.

The database Freedom House has ranked every country in the world as free, partly free or not free. Politico then investigated every single incident of executive punishment within the last 50 years and identified 27 cases within developed countries. 

Of these 27 incidents only two countries saw their freedom designation decline within five years of incarcerating their president. 

For example, France has imprisoned both their president and prime minister within the last 10 years and has remained one of the most democratic countries in the world — ranking above the United States for the past four years. 

Impeachment trials seem to be becoming less effective as our country becomes more divided by red and blue lines. Now more than ever, presidents should not be immune to criminal prosecution, they should be required to follow the same rules as the people they preside over.

Without a way to properly punish our president, this country stands precariously close to tyranny.