Donald Trump’s personal lawyers have said the president cannot be subpoenaed and has vowed to take the question to the Supreme Court. After Tuesday’s guilty pleas by former Trump Organization Executive Vice President and Special Counsel Michael Cohen, the president has now effectively been deemed an un-indicted co-conspirator in federal crimes — putting front and center the question of whether a sitting president can be indicted.
But Sen. John Thune (R-SD) dismissed questions about Trump’s Supreme Court nominee’s views on this as irrelevant.
On Fox News on Thursday afternoon, the third-ranking Senate Republican was asked about his conversation with Brett Kavanaugh and whether the Robert Mueller investigation into collusion between Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian regime came up as a topic.
“Not really,” Thune replied. “That’s not something he needs to worry about or deal with.”
“The issues he’s going to be dealing with on the Court are some of the things I asked him about, his opinions, and he’s written over 300, so we have plenty of material to evaluate,” Thune added.
As a circuit judge, none of Kavanaugh’s opinions have addressed whether President Trump can be subpoenaed or indicted. But there is every reason to believe those questions could well end up before the Supreme Court in the coming months.