Ex-Trump White House Lawyer ‘Disappointed’ and ‘Confused’ by Supreme Court Decision Favoring Former President

Former White House attorney Ty Cobb said the U.S. Supreme Court went even further than he anticipated in bestowing immunity on former President Donald Trump and other presidents.

On Monday, the court ruled that presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for “official acts” they carry out while in office. The ruling jeopardizes at least some of the cases against Trump, who has already been convicted in New York on 34 felony counts. He remains under indictment in three other jurisdictions. Lower courts will now have to determine whether Trump’s conduct in those cases constituted “official acts.” Moreover, the high court ruled that prosecutors may not present such acts as evidence in a trial.

Cobb appeared on Monday’s edition of OutFront on CNN, where he panned the ruling as expected – with two exceptions.

“I think today’s decision – for the most part [was] – largely anticipated, that they would draw a line,” he said. “I think it was pretty clear from the oral argument and from the precedents that they were working with – particularly U.S. v. Nixon and then Fitzgerald that that line would have something to do with the official acts, that they were gonna do something like that.”

In U.S. v. Nixon , the court ruled the president does not enjoy absolute presidential privilege. In Nixon v. Fitzgerald , the court held that the president has “absolute immunity” from civil suits originating from his official acts.

“I think they went a little further than I anticipated,” Cobb continued. “I’m disappointed a little bit and confused a bit by the elimination of the Jeffrey Clark piece of the case and also the inability to use evidence pertaining to official acts with regard to some of the crimes. But they were always going to draw a constitutional line here, a separation of powers line and they drew it and it’s a tight line.”

Special Counsel Jack Smith alleges that Clark – a former Department of Justice official – worked at Trump’s behest to try to subvert the election results. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that “Trump is absolutely immune from the prosecution for the alleged conduct involving his discussions with Justice Department officials.”

Cobb went on to say the ruling does not necessarily mean the end of Trump’s federal prosecution over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. However, elsewhere on CNN, former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin disagreed , stating that the case will “never be tried.”

Watch above via CNN.