Legal scholar warns legacy media 'will do nothing' as Trump calls for enemy 'military tribunals'

On Monday, July 1 — the day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that presidents enjoy some immunity from prosecution for official acts committed while in office — former President Donald Trump reposted, on his Truth Social platform, an image of former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) that read, "Elizabeth Lynne Cheney is guilty of treason." And he called for her to be prosecuted as part of "televised military tribunals."

Elections expert Larry Sabato, seeing that image republished on X, formerly Twitter, wrote, "Every editorial board that demanded Biden's withdrawal MUST now demand Trump's withdrawal. Or will you sit idly by while Trump calls for military tribunals to punish his enemies?"

But legal scholar Norman Ornstein, in response to Sabato's tweet, posted, "They will do nothing."

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The editorial boards that Sabato was referring to included the New York Times and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

After President Joe Biden's widely criticized performance during his first 2024 debate with Trump, those publications published editorials calling for Biden to drop out of the race.

Liberal economist and Times columnist Paul Krugman made the same proposal, praising Biden's work as president but urging Democrats to make Vice President Kamala Harris their nominee instead of Biden.

Cheney, an arch conservative Republican and outspoken Trump critic, remains a target of MAGA Republicans after her work on the bipartisan January 6 Select Committee in 2022.

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