Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) last week defended the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, saying the justices “made it clear what the law is.”
Rubio, one of the leading contenders to be Trump’s running mate, said in an interview with CNN on Sunday that Trump is being targeted politically. “The State of the Union” Asked if he was “pleased” with the Supreme Court’s decision, Trump then appeared to endorse the court’s ruling that gives the president broad immunity for acts committed while in office.
“First of all, I’m uncomfortable with the fact that we now have a president who is targeting his political opponents, and that’s what’s happened under Joe Biden’s administration,” Rubio said. “I can’t think of a single prominent Democrat who was hounded, persecuted and prosecuted when Donald Trump was president.”
“I find it amusing to read and hear warnings from people who make ridiculous claims about the crazy things Donald Trump would do if he were president again,” he added.
Rubio repeated a familiar assertion made by Trump and his allies who have suggested without evidence that Biden was a driving force behind some of the former president’s legal troubles.
CNN’s Dana Bash pushed back against Rubio’s comments, noting that the Justice Department is targeting Democrats under Biden, including Sen. Bob Menendez (D-Jersey).
“Well, they’re only going after Democrats who don’t do everything the Democrats want them to do,” Rubio responded.
The justices then reiterated that they had only just clarified the current law and that President Trump and his allies were being targeted.
“What it means is that you can’t prosecute official acts of the president, but there’s a presumption of presidential immunity for quasi-official acts or semi-official acts, or, precisely, the terminology that they used. They were pretty clear on that,” Rubio said.
“If you look at the efforts they’ve made in the courts to persecute and prosecute Donald Trump, they’ve tried to bankrupt Trump, they’ve tried to silence Trump, they’ve tried to jail Trump, they’ve gone after Trump’s allies on a daily basis,” he added.
Rubio was one of the former president’s running mates, and Trump has said he has chosen one but has yet to make a formal announcement.
