Why does Jacob Weisberg call John Roberts's presidential immunity ruling a catastrophe?

Jacob Weisberg told Kara Swisher that Chief Justice John Roberts wanted a more powerful executive, though not necessarily a more powerful Trump. Weisberg says the 2024 immunity decision means Trump cannot be held legally accountable for crimes committed in office, even after leaving, which makes a self-pardon unnecessary. He faults Roberts for issuing it just before Trump returned, handing impunity to the most dangerous president in 250 years.

• Weisberg says Roberts has avoided confrontation with Trump partly because the court has no army to enforce its rulings.
• Weisberg says the court has now ended congressional control over independent agencies after 150 years.

▸In their words

“this decision is a catastrophe because it essentially says that there will be no way to hold Trump legally accountable” Jacob Weisberg · at 43:11 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on On with Kara Swisher (2026-11-02). Read the whole episode summary →

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