78-year-old donald trump will appeal every criminal and civil verdict against him. the state and federal appeals court process could easily use up the rest of a 78 year old life. and so the title defendant trump will be the longest held title of donald trump s life. tonight we will consider the status of the most important cases defendant trump is facing, including the most important constitutional questions that defendant trump has raised, which one appeals court judge framed as, can the president of the united states be criminally prosecuted for ordering seal team six to assassinate his political opponents? donald trump s lawyer said no. the president cannot be
prosecuted for assassinating his political opponents unless he has already been convicted of the same charge in a senate impeachment trial. the most constitutionally important civil case the donald trump is currently litigating is he s appeal tonight in state supreme court asking to overturn the colorado supreme court s decision to ban donald trump for the presidential ballot. we will consider those cases tonight through the lens of law professor andrew weissmann s legal scholarship as well as the wisdom of three pulitzer prize-winning historians who are experts on the clauses of the constitution that donald trump is now clinging to, trying to redefine through the appeals process. the cases that are going to live the longest in a life of defendant trump are probably the civil cases he is facing. he s facing multiple lawsuits by capitol police officers for injuries they suffered on january six. the verdicts in that lawsuit could cost donald trump hundreds of millions of dollars
was not supposed to happen. and when asked if he s going to agree to the ground rules, to say that he couldn t abide by the ground rules adjusted it anyway. so it was unexpected, but as we have seen in the past, not expected is perfectly expected in terms of the kind of spectacle that greets these events. andrew, all of this got massive coverage during the day because fireworks get coverage. however, there wasn t a single relevant second in anything involving donald trump in the courtroom or what he said standing in front of a bunch of flags after he left the courthouse. there s actually no legal news whatsoever in what donald trump did today. that s right. even in the closing arguments in many ways there wasn t anything new. both sides have putting an extensive briefs and said this was sort of an oral version of that. i will say the one thing that i thought was knew from the perspective is the state in its brief had not really addressed all of the trump arguments, and so they took
that is our show for this evening. now it is time for a special defendant trump addition of the last word, with lawrence o donnell. that starts right now. donald trump s principal occupation is defendant. he spent his first couple of years after leaving the presidency as a civil defendant, and then last year became a criminal defendant for the first time in his life on april 4th and just four months later. he became a criminal defendant for the fourth time in his life. it mantra jen, he can make two of the four criminal prosecutions he is facing disappear, but the rest of defendant trump s criminal and civil cases would simply be put on pause for four years. in june of this year donald trump will turn 78 years old. he could be convicted of crimes by then or shortly after, he is june 14th birthday.
really appreciated. thank you. coming up, the next big court decision coming defendant trump s way could come any day now, next week, the week after, from the federal appeals court and washington, d. c., considering don trump s unprecedented claim that a president cannot be prosecuted for any crimes that he committed as president because he was never convicted in a senate impeachment trial. don t trump s lawyer argued the donald trump could order seal team six to murder any and all united states senators who might vote to convict him in a senate impeachment trial. and he claims that is what was clearly intended in the impeachment clause of united states constitution. an expert on the impeachment clause, stanford historian jack rakove, will join us next. have heart failure with unresolved symptoms?