Former President Donald Trump can "probably take money" for pardoning January 6, 2021, Capitol rioters due to the Supreme Court's recent presidential immunity ruling, legal analyst Melissa Murray said on MSNBC's The Weekend on Sunday.
In July the Supreme Court issued a ruling in a 6-3 decision that former presidents have immunity for official acts conducted while in office, but not for unofficial acts. The ruling was related to an argument by Trump in the federal election interference case against him.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has accused Trump of attempting to overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory, culminating in the Capitol riot in which a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., in a failed attempt to stop Congress from certifying Biden's win. The riot erupted following repeated claims from Trump and his allies that the election was stolen from him via widespread voter fraud, despite there being no evidence of this.
Trump claims that he is immune from prosecution because he was in office when the alleged scheme took place. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all four felony charges against him after he was indicted by DOJ special counsel Jack Smith in August 2023 and claims the case is politically motivated.
Meanwhile, over 1,488 people have been charged for their alleged actions on January 6 and Trump has repeatedly promised to pardon them if he's reelected in November.
"The moment we win, we will rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner unjustly victimized by the Harris regime and I will sign their pardons on day one," Trump said at a campaign rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin, on Saturday.
Murray, a New York University (NYU) law professor and MSNBC contributor, told the co-hosts of The Weekend on Sunday in an interview appearance that "the Supreme Court has actually made it possible for him to do this."
She added: "That immunity decision from July is so sweeping that the president can actually issue pardons. He could probably take money for issuing pardons and it would be OK because the Supreme Court has said that he has immunity for his official acts and the pardon power is explicit in the Constitution."
Murray, who co-authored the 2024 book, The Trump Indictments, said that Trump "has wide authority" in the Supreme Court that he stacked with three conservative justices during his time in office, making a 6-3 conservative-tilt.
"The Supreme Court is not coming to save us. We have to save ourselves. Authoritarianism is literally on the doorstep," she added.
Trump's communications director, Steven Cheung, told Newsweek via email on Sunday afternoon when reached for comment, "Who is Melissa Murray? Isn't she the democrat donor?"
Newsweek reached out to Murray via email and the Supreme Court via online form for comment on Sunday afternoon.
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Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on politics. Rachel joined Newsweek in ... Read more