Jamie Raskin says Trump is using 2024 bid ‘as a shield against legal prosecution’

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said he believes former President Donald Trump is using his candidacy for president in 2024 to ward off prosecution in his federal case over classified documents.

“I certainly believe that he’s trying to use he’s trying to use his candidacy and his campaign as a shield against legal prosecution,” he said on Inside with Jen Psaki Sunday.

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However, Raskin explained that no one can predict what will happen in the case, “because nobody’s ever pushed the limits like this before.”

The former president was indicted last month on 37 felony charges, which included 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information. Trump pleaded not guilty.

Last week, lawyers for Trump and long-time aide Walt Nauta said, “There is simply no question any trial of this action during the pendency of a presidential election will impact both the outcome of that election and, importantly, the ability of the defendants to obtain a fair trial.”

The Justice Department subsequently urged Judge Aileen Cannon to move forward with jury selection, dismissing Trump’s attorneys’ request to delay the trial. Special counsel Jack Smith requested the trial begin on Dec. 11, prior to both the Republican presidential primaries and the 2024 general election.

“No president has ever been in a situation where he’s had to think about pardoning himself, much less essentially promising to pardon himself,” Raskin said.

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According to the Maryland Democrat, Trump “pushes our legal system to the extreme, and we are forced to judge these very radical concepts that have never been tested before.”

But, Raskin noted, “I think there’s at least as good an argument that the president cannot pardon himself.”