Former President Donald Trump thanked the Supreme Court after it issued a ruling that reversed the Colorado Supreme Court’s disqualification of the Republican candidate from the ballot, saying the decision was unifying for the country.
“I think it will go a long way in bringing our country together, which our country needs,” he said at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday.
“They worked long, they worked hard, and frankly they worked very quickly on something that will be spoken about a hundred years from now and 200 years from now. Extremely important.”
President Trump said the ruling essentially affirmed that courts and state officials cannot take a candidate out of a race.
“The voters can take the person out of a race very quickly, but a court shouldn’t be doing that,” he said. “I really do believe that will be a unifying factor.”
He referenced the many challenges to his eligibility over the past several months.
“While most states were thrilled to have me, there were some that didn’t, and they didn’t want that for political reasons,” he said.
By mid-February, his attorneys had counted 88 challenges across 45 states, even as President Trump racked up a winning streak in early primary contests.
Second Case Before SCOTUS
Also before the Supreme Court is President Trump’s presidential immunity defense in a second case related to Jan. 6, 2021.Special counsel Jack Smith is prosecuting President Trump for alleged conspiracy and obstruction for his actions on that day, and courts have fast-tracked hearings and decisions regarding President Trump’s motion to dismiss the case based on presidential immunity. The Supreme Court will hear arguments the week of April 22.
“If a president doesn’t have immunity, you really don’t have a president because nobody that is serving in that office will have the courage to make, in many cases, what would be the right decision,” President Trump said. “It could be, in some cases, the wrong decision, but they have to make decisions and they have to make them free of all terror that can be rained upon them when they leave office.”
President Trump said that during his presidency, the U.S. military defeated ISIS and killed two major terrorist leaders, but he added that “maybe I wouldn’t have done that” if the office of the president was diminished by the threat of prosecution.
“I don’t want to be prosecuted because I decided to do something that is very much for the good of the country, and actually for the good of the world,” he said. “A president shouldn’t have that on his mind. He has to have a free and clear mind when he makes very big decisions, or it’s going to be nothing more than a ceremonial post.”
President Trump is the first American president to be criminally prosecuted, in not just one but four separate indictments totaling 91 counts.
The first of these criminal cases goes to trial this month in Manhattan, alleging he mishandling business documents.
“It’s a very unfair thing for me, but serving, perhaps, as a sample to others of what should not be happening,” he said.
Presidents should be “celebrated for having done a good job,” he added, “not indicted.”
He criticized the prosecutors pursuing criminal cases against him, and the several civil cases against him including a fraud judgment that recently ordered President Trump to pay more than $450 million.
“Stop weaponization,” he said, telling President Joe Biden to “fight your fight yourself.” President Trump has claimed that the several cases against him are the work of his political opponents, even at the behest of the sitting president.
“Don’t use prosecutors and judges to go after your opponent,” he said. “Our country is much bigger than that.”
