By Marta Hill
It is important to set a precedent that no one, even a U.S. president, is immune to being prosecuted for breaking the law, Sen. Ed Markey said in an interview Wednesday on Boston Public Radio.
“Clearly there is sufficient evidence to indict [former president Donald Trump], whether or not he is will be a decision made by [special counsel] Jack Smith and the Justice Department,” Markey said. “I think that the law should be followed and it is a very important example to set that even a president is not immune to being prosecuted if he has violated the law.”
Markey said if prosecutors decide there is sufficient evidence to indict Trump it will be an important statement.
“From my perspective Donald Trump should be in jail, not in the White House,” Markey said.
The senator’s musings on the former president were accompanied by discussions of regulations for tech giants like Twitter, daylight savings time (inspired by Boston sunset times hedging close to 4 p.m.) and Markey’s hopes for the last few weeks before the new Congress is sworn in.
The clock is ticking on the Democrats’ simultaneous control of the Senate, House of Representatives and White House, but Markey said he is optimistic they can accomplish a lot in the time they have left.
“I think a lot is possible,” Markey said. “For example, I am working right now on an online child and teenager privacy bill of rights for our country. We know we have a crisis of mental health in young people in our country, we know a lot of it is driven by online addiction and targeting by companies across the country, and I’ve got bipartisan support for it.”
Another piece of legislation Markey said is a priority is the Electoral Count Reform Act, which would ensure that electoral college votes accurately reflect each state’s popular vote for president.
“We need to pass a law. Ultimately we should just abolish the Electoral College — it is just such an ancient piece of political residue from our Founding Fathers that serves no practical purpose,” Markey said. “We should just move to becoming a democracy, where ultimately, it is just one vote, one person — they elect the president of the United States.
Listen to the full interview online.
In a wide-ranging interview on @BosPublicRadio @GBHNews, Sen. Ed Markey stated that former President Donald Trump should "be in jail," and pressured Elon Musk to reign in hate speech and misinformation on Twitter.
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