Trump References the 'Bad Apples' of Catholic Church in Speech Pushing for 'Guaranteed Immunity'

Donald Trump pushed for 'presidential immunity' amid his never-ending legal battles for 91 felony charges across four indictments. The former President spoke at a rally in Rochester, New Hampshire, on Sunday, January 21, 2024, and called out 'pedophile priests' in Catholic churches and used it as an argument to justify how he's qualified for immunity. 

The GOP front-runner, who is expected to face off with only Republican rival Nikki Haley, drew an absurd comparison between his demand for immunity in criminal charges and the 'bad apples' that have plagued the House of God. However, his logic failed to convince his critics, reported Mediaite.

The 77-year-old reasoned, "FBI agents raiding Mar-A-Lago. But think of it. He indicted a former president of the United States. Once that happened. Thank you. I agree not. Thank you. But once that happened, it was like the gloves are off because that's the worst thing. It's not even possible." He continued, "Many presidents leave, and there are things you can go after. And frankly, to be honest, that's one of the reasons the Supreme Court is looking now at immunity. You have to have guaranteed immunity for a president. Otherwise, the president's not going to be able to function. They're not going to move." 

The real estate mogul further gave an example of the 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, and argued he "would not have done Hiroshima and Nagasaki, probably ended the war," adding, "But he wouldn't have done it. So many things wouldn't be done." Trump went on to cite another example of the 44th president of the US, Barack Obama. He asserted, "Barack Obama shot missiles during his term, shot missiles into an area, killed a lot of people, they missed. I mean, does that mean you indict him when he gets out of office?" 

He added, "You have to allow a president to do his job. They'll make decisions. And, you know, it's like the police. I say we have to give the police back their power. We're not going to have any crime, but we protect. What we do. I mean, to me, it's the best analogy." Trump then compared his predicament to a 'rouge cop' or 'bad apple.'

"But, but it's a little bit like the police. So you have a rogue cop. [Do] You know what a rogue cop is? Very seldom. But you have s-bad people. You have people no matter where, no matter what," the twice-impeached ex-president said. "In the church, you have some people that aren't so good, right? But you have peop... a rogue cop or a bad apple or whatever." The former POTUS expounded, "And what they do is they make it so that you catch– so that it can't happen, and therefore everyone else is allowed to commit crimes, murders like at levels that we've never seen before," before adding, "No, we're going to have to do this, immunity for the president." 

In his Truth Social post, Trump further pushed for 'total immunity.' He wrote in all-caps, "ANY MISTAKE, EVEN IF WELL INTENDED, WOULD BE MET WITH ALMOST CERTAIN INDICTMENT BY THE OPPOSING PARTY AT TERM END," per The Independent. "EVEN EVENTS THAT 'CROSS THE LINE' MUST FALL UNDER TOTAL IMMUNITY."