Trump handed 'get-out-of-jail-free card' for corruption: ex-DOJ prosecutor

A lead prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case says President Donald Trump has been handed a “get-out-of-jail-free card” for potential corruption, arguing that a series of Supreme Court rulings has left elected officials shielded from prosecution.

Leo J. Wise, a 20-year federal prosecutor who served in all three branches of the federal government, argued in a Monday essay for The Atlantic that the court has spent decades reducing federal anti-corruption laws, with the 2024 presidential immunity decision being the icing on the cake.

Wise mentioned two transactions involving Trump and foreign governments. Qatar provided the Defense Department with a $400 million luxury jet for presidential use, which he wants to take to his presidential library when he leaves office.

Subsequently, Trump offered Qatar expanded security guarantees and authorized advanced artificial intelligence chip sales to the United Arab Emirates, Wise wrote, adding that it “looks like a bribe.”

Secondly, Emirati investors put $500 million into a Trump-family cryptocurrency venture days before his second inauguration. Trump then offered to sell them advanced AI chips, which the Biden administration blocked due to fears it may end up in the hands of the Chinese government.

Aside from Trump, Wise pointed to a 2016 decision by the Supreme Court in which it overturned former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell’s bribery conviction, finding that arranging meetings and hosting events for a businessman who provided loans and gifts did not qualify as the official acts required for the offense.

In another decision in 2024, the justices ruled that a federal anti-corruption provision covering state and local officials prohibits bribes, but not gifts received as rewards for completed official actions.

In the case ofTrump v. United States, the ruling granted former presidents absolute immunity for actions within their exclusive constitutional powers and with the presumption that immunity extends to other official acts. However, unofficial conduct remains outside those protections.

Wise believes that decision effectively means “presidents, alone among elected officials, can likely never be prosecuted for corruption.”

The immunity ruling differs from previous interpretations of federal statutes in that it is based on the Constitution, which means that Congress cannot merely cancel it by passing a new law. According to Wise, overturning that protection would have to wait for a future decision by the Supreme Court or for a constitutional amendment.

Wise previously served in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, which the Trump administration gutted in an effort to dismiss the criminal case against former New York Mayor Eric Adams in 2025. Wise said he and the majority of his colleagues refused to participate in that dismissal, and he then left the department.

He described that trajectory as “political elites protecting political elites.”

Wise also said Congress has failed to use its power to tighten gift restrictions, expand bribery statutes, and address conflicts of interest.

For Trump, he believes only a future Supreme Court could reverse the “get-out-of-jail-free card.”