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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmid swirling Trump scandals, Cummings backs rules change to allow indictment of a sitting president
Amid swirling Trump scandals, Cummings backs rules change to allow indictment of a sitting president
Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings will wield a powerful gavel beginning next month as head of the House Oversight Committee
Stephanie Griffith
Dec 16, 2018, 4:50 pm
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the Democrat who takes over chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee next month, called Sunday for the overhaul of legal guidelines that currently protect presidents from criminal prosecution.
I think we should always reconsider laws and regulations, and this is one we definitely should reconsider, Cummings told CNNs State of the Union.
The Maryland Democrat raised the prospect of a rules change against the backdrop of a host of scandals swirling around the Trump administration.
Department of Justice (DOJ) guidelines currently state that a sitting president cannot be indicted, although some legal experts say that court precedent is not entirely settled on that matter.
As The Washington Post reported this weekend, nearly every organization touched by Donald Trump over the past decade both civil and governmental is currently under investigation. And as ThinkProgress has reported, the administration has been beset by an unending parade of scandals.
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https://thinkprogress.org/amid-swirling-trump-scandals-cummings-backs-rules-change-to-allow-indictment-of-a-sitting-president-384d0c9386ed/
N_E_1 for Tennis
(9,782 posts)or lack of understanding. If it is a guideline why do you need a rule change? Only because there is no precedent? Individual #1 and his business are proven to be corrupt and warranted to receive indictments in any other situation outside of him being president. The law should understandably follow the same course. Is it only to protect the actions of indictment?
kentuck
(111,110 posts)And test the legality of the question?
Although there are three equal branches of Government, only one is commissioned to write the laws. One is commissioned to execute the laws and one is commissioned to judge the legality of the law.
How would the Supreme Court rule?
N_E_1 for Tennis
(9,782 posts)since there is only a guideline that action alone by presenting it to the SC for ruling would settle the argument, hopefully. The indictment would have to have ironclad proof of criminality.
I say pick one charge thats obvious in its proof and go from there. Once one is okd the rest will cascade.
kentuck
(111,110 posts)Iliyah
(25,111 posts)kentuck
(111,110 posts)Do "rules changes" require approval in the other House of the Legislature? Or are they independent from the "rules" the House chooses to make for themselves?
GopherGal
(2,010 posts)or was there also mention of extending the statute of limitations? As in, time a president is in office does not count against the statute-of-limitations clock.