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By Nick Mordowanec
Staff Writer
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A Republican group is spending $2 million as part of a multi-state campaign urging the Supreme Court to reject Donald Trump's presidential immunity claim in association with ongoing federal criminal trials.
In April, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from the legal team for the former president and presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee in the case of whether a president is immune from criminal charges while still in the White House. Last week, in Manhattan, Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts for falsifying records in relation to hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of his 2016 election victory. The charges in the case stemmed from actions before Trump—who denied the affair and any wrongdoing—was in the Oval Office.
The claim before the Supreme Court mostly relates to the ex-president's federal case helmed by special counsel Jack Smith, in which Trump was indicted on four counts of allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election, leading to the events on January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol. The former president has denied the charges and says they are politically motivated.
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On Friday, Republicans for the Rule of Law—a nonprofit organization that originated in 2019, around the time of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Trump's relationship with Russia—launched an educational awareness ad campaign that features testimonials from 25 conservatives who say that the High Court should dismiss Trump's claim of "absolute immunity" for the preservation of justice and not allowing special rules for presidents in office.
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"The special sauce in this campaign is that the testimonials are not highly produced; just authentic and in the people's own voices," Tony Franquiz, a national spokesperson for the group, told Newsweek by phone on Friday. "We believe the messenger is most important than the message."
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign via email for comment.
The campaign airs from June 7-23 on digital and streaming platforms, including YouTube and Hulu. It will be seen by residents in 12 states, some of which are key battlegrounds in the 2024 presidential election: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Even though possible swing states are involved, Franquiz said that was not the focus.
The campaign funded by national donors has a two-pronged approach. One is a focus on states where the immunity argument is "least available," he said, alluding to Alabama and Texas where people may be more prone to a "conservative media diet."
Another focus is on states like Georgia and Pennsylvania that were directly impacted by elections, alluding to questions about election integrity and vote recounts following the contentious 2020 election.
Election Is Bigger Than Trump
Kyle Sweetser, 35, a lifelong Republican and construction worker from Mobile, Alabama, voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020. He told Newsweek by phone on Friday that he plans to vote for President Joe Biden for multiple reasons—including rule of law and election integrity in addition to Trump, in his words, cozying up to foreign adversaries.
His testimonial is featured as part of the ad campaign.
"I'm basically doing anything I can to help [the cause against Trump]," said Sweetser, who voted for Nikki Haley in the GOP primary. "I'm helping Republicans against Trump in pretty much any way.... I feel very strongly about it because of the more brainwashed people, or maybe that's too strong a term. It's shifted the Republican Party into something that is not the Republican Party anymore. It's un-American."
Judy Bou Kheir, 65, of Texas, has also considered herself a lifelong Republican and has voted for more than 45 years.
She told Newsweek over the phone on Friday that she may be "one of the few" in the Longhorn State to oppose Trump based on how he has approached the law and fomented opposition against some of the bedrocks of U.S. democracy—admitting she was "shocked" when Trump won in 2016 due to not representing traditional conservatism.
"It's not the party I remember," said Bou Kheir, who plans to vote for Biden. "I was alive, around when Richard Nixon was going through Watergate. You had Republican leaders who didn't go along with him, held him accountable.
"I thought January 6 would be the end.... When it came time to eradicate Trump out of the Republican Party and his ability to be nominated again, they fell in line with other Republican voters who were hook, line, and sinker with Trump. It's a shame we didn't have more people who would stand up like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and Mitt Romney."
She also questioned how many conservatives can say the 2020 election was rigged or illegitimate.
"If there was fraud in the 2020 election, why didn't it affect any other down-ballot races?" she said. "That doesn't make sense."
Jeff Klingler, a 65-year-old Republican from Antioch, California, told Newsweek via email that he voted for Trump in 2016 and switched to the Libertarian Party in 2020 as a protest vote. He plans to support Biden this time around.
That is due, he said, to how the rule of law is the "common thread that holds any civilized society together."
"But they only work if everyone, especially elected officials, are held accountable to such laws," Klingler said, accusing Trump of "arguing that there is nothing wrong with undermining a free and fair election because presidents are above the law, immune from prosecution, unaccountable, and can do any self-serving criminal action they want while in office."
"Trump and his allies call it 'presidential immunity.' I call it a dictatorship. And a dictatorship and a democracy are mutually exclusive forms of government. Clearly, Donald Trump wants to be a dictator," he claimed.
Newsweek put the trio's comments to Trump's campaign.
Other conservatives expressed similar sentiments.
"There would be no consequences [if absolute immunity were granted]," Dolores, a conservative from Pennsylvania, said during her testimonial. "The Supreme Court must uphold that a president is not immune for his or her crimes while in office."
Another conservative in Virginia named Kevin said in his testimonial that if the Supreme Court grants Trump's request, it would equate to Trump being above the rule of law.
"That threatens the very foundations of our Democratic Republic," he said.
The Court also has renewed pressure among some Americans to reject Trump's claim due to Justice Samuel Alito being among those making a determination.
Alito, who has indicated no intention to recuse himself, has been called on by some to be disqualified from the case due to having an upside-down American flag, a symbol of the former president's "Stop the Steal" campaign, hanging outside his house in the days before Joe Biden's inauguration in 2021.
Republicans for the Rule of Law has reached numbers in the millions and has resonated with lifelong Republicans as well as those who traditionally lean center-right who are more dedicated to law and justice than actual candidates or politics, Franquiz said.
Individuals who were approached to participate were not asked about their political proclivities, including their voting history or intentions this November.
It was mainly about ideology and pushing back against attacks on institutions that aim to preserve the rule of law, which Franquiz called "dangerous and anti-conservative."
"We hear there are others who feel this way," he said. "The sentiment is widely spread [even among those who didn't participate and are alarmed]. There may be a breaking point, other breaking points. Everyone has their own story."
A Trump victory in November could have major ramifications, Sweetser suggested.
"It's gonna weaken America,' he said. "It's gonna weaken our image globally; we're not gonna have the image that we had. It's going to endanger democracy, letting people get away with the law.
"Trump is a criminal sociopath...and sociopaths take advantage of our laws. He's taking advantage of our system, and ruining it," he claimed.
Klingler's intention to vote for Biden would be the first time in his life he voted for a Democrat. It's about the country and not Trump, he said.
"I've never voted for a Democrat for president, so this is not easy for me," he said. "But this election is not about being a Republican or a Democrat. It is about being an American first and preserving our democracy.
"Being an American always takes priority over any political party."
Update 06/07/24, 1:14 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Kyle Sweetser.
Update 06/07/24, 2:07 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Jody Bou Kheir and Jeff Klingler.
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