How the president can be prosecuted as a criminal

Article I, section 9, U.S. Constitution

These passages explain that, despite all the political rhetoric emanating from the White House, the Capitol building and elements of the media, if the House impeached and the Senate convicted Donald Trump, the only result of that Congressional action would be his removal from the Presidency.

But what is equally important is what they don’t say. There is no language in the Constitution providing the President with any immunity from prosecution by the appropriate criminal authorities: he is subject to the ordinary criminal processes of “Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to law.” Furthermore, there is not one syllable directly putting the President beyond the reach of the criminal law even if Congress does not impeach.

The argument that the President is immune from the criminal laws is just that — an argument. It involves two issues: