Subject: Re: On July 1 We Lost the Republic
Let's take a less crazy situation. You've got a presidential act that is clearly outside of the core constitutional duties. How about bestowing some presidential medal in exchange for a payment.** There's a presumption of immunity, but that presumption can be overcome. To overcome it, you probably need to prove there was a high likelihood of a criminal act with criminal intent. If you can't introduce evidence from the cabinet and other advisors, how can you overcome the presumption? There will be very little evidence outside of that group. I agree that once you overcome the assumption you can use the evidence to prove criminality. But you've got to get past the assumption first.

I think that's exactly analogous to trying to convict a Congressbeing for casting a vote in exchange for a payment - at least in terms of the process for establishing the criminal case.

You're not going to introduce evidence to prove the official act is not subject to immunity. It almost certainly is. The President has been assigned the prerogative of bestowing Presidential medals, and that action is going to be immune. But while the official act is almost certainly subject to immunity, the receipt of payment in exchange for that official act is not. So the President can be indicted for accepting a bribe in exchange for an official immune act, just like Congresscritters are indicted (and convicted) for accepting bribes from time to time.

There are evidentiary hoops to bringing such a case, because immunity does limit some of the evidence that can be introduced at trial. This DOJ manual on bringing bribery charges against Congressfolk has a summary of what those are in the "Speech and Debate Clause" section:

https://www.justice.gov/archiv...

But, again, those hurdles are not insurmountable. Congresspeople are indicted and prosecuted and convicted for bribery under these rules. We don't see a rash of classic "money in an envelope"-for-votes type bribery stemming from that immunity, in part because doing that type of overt bribery can land you in prison notwithstanding the S&D Clause.