Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh said on Thursday that he is “not focused on the here and now” of former President Donald Trump’s case claiming presidential immunity, but that he is “very concerned about the future.”
Kavanaugh noted that past presidential administrations have felt hampered by independent counsels, and cited a case called Morrison v. Olson to predict the ways that a cycle of prosecutions could be unleashed from president to president.
“We've lived from Watergate through the present, through the independent counsel era, with all of its flaws, without these prosecutions having gone off on a runaway train,” Justice Department attorney Michel Dreeben said.
“I think nobody likes being investigated for a crime, but it didn't result in the kind of vindictive prosecutions that I think your Honor is raising as a possibility,” he added.
Kavanaugh also questioned Dreeben about specific examples from presidential history, such as statements made by President Lyndon Johnson about the Vietnam War and drone strikes ordered by President Barack Obama.
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