On Sunday, former Governor Chris Christie appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and argued that Judge Hannah Dugan – who was charged with obstruction and concealment – could be protected by the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.
ABC host Martha Raddatz began, “Let’s talk about Wisconsin and what happened in that courtroom. You’re a former prosecutor, would you have brought charges against that judge?”
Christie replied, “Well, I’ll tell you, Martha, this is one of those situations where everybody, I think, is acting badly. So, first off, you know, I don’t know what this judge was thinking in terms of trying to help a criminal defendant try to avoid an arrest warrant from federal authorities, and, you know, it’s not a typical judicial action in my experience, not something a judge would normally do.”
He argued, “On the other side, when you really read through this, I don’t know that the complaint, the indictment that was filed, is completely consistent with the affidavit that was filed because, you know, this guy did wind up in a public courtroom near public elevators after he left the courtroom and was seen by one of the agents who was there to assist in the apprehension. So whether or not the way they’re characterizing these facts are completely accurate is something we’re going to have to see when we get to a trial in this case.”
Former Department of Juctice spokesperson Sarah Isgur chimed in, “They have a problem because she is a judge. Now no court has found that judges are immune from criminal prosecution, but that Trump immunity decision that we talked about last year could be very relevant here whether they can even bring criminal charges against a judge who was in her own courtroom potentially doing something that could be seen as a, quote, judicial act.”
Christie added, “The Trump immunity decision for this administration may giveth and taketh away here because, you know, giving that kind of broad immunity to the president, you can be sure that the judge’s lawyers will be arguing a judge is entitled to similar immunity.”