OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Fox News “Outnumbered” co-host Kayleigh McEnany has set the record straight regarding the several indictments against her former boss, Donald Trump, during a recent show segment.
In particular, McEnany and the other co-hosts discussed Trump being indicted by special counsel Jack Smith stemming from his investigation into the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.
“If this indictment held, if a conviction was secured, what precedent, applying that retroactively, would have been set in those various circumstances? I think it is a troubling precedent indeed, But rounding this out, I think it’s important to look at what the American people see here when they look at Trump and Biden,” she began.
“I’m talking pure political optics. You look at President Trump, you see a guy with a 53.4 percent RealClearPolitics approval, or I should say that is what he is garnering among Republican voters at this point in time,” McEnany added.
“So, yes, that is true that for all intents and purposes, he looks like he is going on to be the nominee unless there is a big shakeup or polling change. So they see this individual who’s on his way there. They go back to last Wednesday, where you covered the Hunter situation, the plea deal breaks apart, there is this hidden phrase in the diversion agreement and the judge says this is not fair,” she said.
“Fast-forward to [recently] and you see a second indictment against the former sitting president. You compare that to Biden,” she added.
“This is his DoJ. And look, he says the DoJ’s independence. Let’s take him at his word. But optically, what you see is a president at the beach, a president going to dinner and a movie, a president at an Oppenheimer film, and when he walks out, the Politico Playbook says this: ‘Meanwhile, the only public statement from President Biden last night was in response to a shouted question from the pool. ‘It was compelling,’ he answered,” the former Trump White House press secretary noted further.
“The question was how he liked the movie ‘Oppenheimer.’’ So you see someone whose political opponent had been indicted as he enjoys dinner and a movie, and it is, at the end of the day, his Department of Justice piece.”
Co-host Emily Compagno jumped in and added: “That’s right. And the timeline, again, just to underscore, it’s so notable that every time the Hunter Biden situation, the corruption makes the headlines, an indictment seems to drop. June, July, August.”
WATCH:
Trump, who leads the 2024 GOP presidential primary field, has already pleaded not guilty to 37 counts related to his alleged improper retention of classified records from his presidency.
Trump faces several charges in that probe, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements. Additionally, he was indicted on three additional counts as part of a superseding indictment issued in connection with the same investigation.
Meanwhile, the trial of Trump on charges of obstructing the 2020 election is set to begin on March 4, 2024, but his legal team believes the United States Supreme Court is about to enter a pivotal presidential immunity case.
Despite the fact that presidents are typically immune from most lawsuits, Trump has already been denied immunity from a civil case that sought to hold him accountable for the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, US News reported.
The fact that there has not been much progress in his appeal of that ruling in more than a year serves as a model for how he might try to postpone his criminal trial in Washington related to his attempts to rig the 2020 election.
Trump’s legal team is expected to argue that he is entitled to broad immunity from prosecution for actions taken in the course of his White House duties, despite the fact that they have not yet requested it in the criminal case, the report added.
“Trump’s attorney John Lauro said that the Supreme Court hadn’t ruled on the bounds of executive immunity in a criminal case. His preview of the immunity issue failed to persuade US District Judge Tanya Chutkan to adopt the 2026 trial date that Trump wanted, but Lauro said that if the Trump team does pursue it, they’ll likely ask her to pause the criminal trial until the issue is fully resolved,” Yahoo reported.
