President Biden “better hope and pray” the Supreme Court comes down in favor of former President Donald Trump’s immunity push, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Graham, 68, contended that Biden could find himself in legal jeopardy if the high court sides against bestowing absolute immunity upon a president.
“All of these women who’ve been raped and murdered have one thing in common — the people that killed them, raped them, and murdered them were in our custody and let go — I think, illegally so,” Graham argued on “FOX News Sunday.”
“When he allowed the killer of Laken Riley to be released on parole because [of] lack of capacity, I think he’s subject not only to lawsuit but criminal prosecution if there’s not presidential immunity.”
Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was killed Feb. 22 during a jog at the University of Georgia. The suspected murderer, José Antonio Ibarra illegally entered the US and came from Venezuela. Ibarra was released on parole, an authority that allows certain illegal immigrants to remain in the US.
“You have wars in Ukraine. You have the Mideast on fire. When it comes to enforcing the law, Joe Biden has been beyond reckless. He’s taken a parole statute that’s limited in nature and has given a million people parole,” Graham chided earlier in the exchange.
Trump, 78, has previously pledged he’d name a special counsel to look into the Biden family’s overseas machinations. Notably, he made a similar commitment to Hillary Clinton but never followed through.
The 45th president has previously echoed similar sentiments to Graham, arguing that he is fighting for presidential immunity for the sake of the presidency.
Biden, 81, has largely kept quiet about Trump’s legal issues, but last year, the president said he “can’t think of one” reason why presidents should have total immunity from prosecution.
Trump’s legal team has deployed the presidential immunity gambit since last year in response to his four-count indictment over alleged 2020 election subversion.
That trial, which was supposed to have commenced in early March, has been thrust into limbo amid his quest for immunity, which is up for consideration before the high court.
His attorney John Sauer raised the border crisis as a hypothetical during oral arguments back in April.
During oral arguments, justices seemingly hinted at a desire to find some sort of middle ground on presidential immunity and even appeared to leave open the possibility of remanding the issue back to the lower courts to further suss out the legal principles at play.
Graham’s remarks about presidential immunity came during an exchange about Democrat-led efforts to pressure the high court over ethics.
“They’re squealing like stuck pigs because the Supreme Court no longer is a political body, it is actually looking at the Constitution and making constitutionally sound decisions versus political decisions. That’s the problem liberals have with the court,” Graham argued.
One of Biden’s top allies in the Senate, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) predicted that the president would respect the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity.
“I think there’s a sharp contrast between former President Trump and President Biden in terms of their respect for the rule of law and how they approach both law enforcement and our legal system,” Coons contended on “Fox News Sunday.”
The Supreme Court has a backlog of some 14 cases still outstanding and is set to release decisions on Wednesday.