No. of Recommendations: 3
Nah, I guess that couldn’t happen, because no rational person would undertake criminal activities for someone who could not be prosecuted, but they could. Well that settles that.
The question isn't whether a rational person would undertake criminal activities for someone who could not be prosecuted. The question is whether Presidential immunity changes any of this calculus.
Remember, Haldeman and Ehrlichman and the rest of Richard Nixon's Secret Tapes Club Band did the things they did even though Nixon didn't have any guarantee of immunity, and without any guarantee (or likelihood) of pardon. They did them because they thought they wouldn't get caught.
All the stuff you mentioned in your list are the sorts of things that a President can't really do alone, and the other participants to the crime would only do it if they thought that they wouldn't get caught. Ironically, the President's immunity might make them a little bit less likely to participate, because they make it a little less likely that the President will take proper care to avoid being caught. If I am considering bribing the President (for example), my willingness to participate depends in no small part on the odds of my getting caught. Those odds go up if the President is immune from prosecution, not down.
