MSNBC’s Chris Hayes journeyed over to CBS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday to react to the news that the Supreme Court has decided to hear Donald Trump’s argument that he has presidential immunity and therefore cannot be tried in the classified documents and January 6-related cases on an expedited schedule. However, that was not good enough for Hayes, as he told the Court “you are helping Donald Trump” by not hearing it at a pace that conforms to Hayes’s personal wishes.
Hayes told Colbert that “American voters actually deserve the knowledge in either direction. If the man is acquitted, if he's found not guilty of an incredibly grave crime, American voters deserve to know that as well. One way or the other, the American public is owed, as a fundamental public interest, as a democratic self-interest, to know whether, in a court of law judged by a jury of his peers under full constitutional due process, the man is guilty or not of the gravest political crime of any man in history since the Civil War.”
There is no “public interest” exception to defendants’ rights. The right to a speedy trial is for the defendant, not the state or the voters.
However, Hayes saw something more sinister at play, “There is a calendar on the wall. It's got a certain amount of days on it—200 days—and every day you cross through and red. You are doing Trump a favor. You are helping Donald Trump and everyone knows that. The people in the Supreme Court know that, Tanya Chutkan knows that, Jack Smith knows that Donald Trump's lawyers know it, and Donald Trump knows it.”
Working the crowd to get their boos in, Hayes proceeded, “So when they take 15 days to issue this order, and then they come back, and they say we're going to get to these arguments in seven weeks, they're going up to that calendar and they're putting nine weeks of days and they are burning them for Donald Trump in Donald Trump's interest so as to protect Donald Trump from the possibility of being held to account, everyone needs to understand that is what they are doing.”
Later on All In, Hayes would continue this idea that there is some conspiracy at play, "It is an clear unmistakable sign from the MAGA majority of the Trump-created court that they are with him. That they are going to use their power to make sure that he does not face trial in an election year for attempting to end American democracy.”
.@chrislhayes: The SCOTUS order "was a clear unmistakable sign from the MAGA majority of the Trump-created court that they are with him. That they are going to use their power to make sure that he does not face trial in an election year for attempting to end American democracy." pic.twitter.com/fgrrP0tEw0
— All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) February 29, 2024
Hayes and people like him cannot have it both ways. Ironically, this case is about immunity. If it is true that presidential immunity is not absolute and the president is not above the law and is accountable to it just like every other citizen, then he also has all the same rights as every accused citizen. If the Supreme Court's normal pace conflicts with Democrats’ electoral interests, then that is just too bad.
Here is a transcript for the February 28 show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2/28/2024
CHRIS HAYES: American voters actually deserve the knowledge in either direction. If the man is acquitted, if he's found not guilty of an incredibly grave crime, American voters deserve to know that as well. One way or the other, the American public is owed, as a fundamental public interest, as a democratic self-interest to know whether in a court of law judged by a jury of his peers under full constitutional due process, the man is guilty or not of the gravest political crime of any man in history since the Civil War. But I want to just be clear with folks here, everyone here knows the score and I cannot stress this enough. It's like I saw the news about this order, right and it's like, “Oh, they're going to hear the immunity case. They're going to hear arguments” and it's like, okay, well, I guess that makes sense.
There is a calendar on the wall. It's got a certain amount of days on it 200 days, and every day you cross through and red. You are doing Trump a favor. You are helping Donald Trump and everyone knows that. The people in the Supreme Court know that, Tanya Chutkan knows that, Jack Smith knows that Donald Trump's lawyers know it, and Donald Trump knows it.
So when they take 15 days to issue this order, and then they come back, and they say we're going to get to these arguments in seven weeks, they're going up to that calendar and they're putting nine weeks of days and they are burning them for Donald Trump in Donald Trump's interest so as to protect Donald Trump from the possibility of being held to account, everyone needs to understand that is what they are doing.
