Why is he so special?

Barrett presses Trump's attorney on claims impeachment is a "gateway" to criminal charges

From CNN's Holmes Lybrand

Justice Amy Coney Barrett pressed Trump’s attorney on why a president alone should be required to be impeached in the Senate before being subjected to criminal prosecution.

“You’ve argued that the impeachment clause suggests or requires impeachment to be a gateway to criminal prosecution, right?” Barrett asked.

“Yes,” Trump’s attorney, John Sauer, said of the impeachment clause.

“There are many other people who are subject to impeachment, including the nine sitting on this bench,” Barrett said, “and I don’t think anyone has ever suggested that impeachment would have to be the gateway to criminal prosecution for any of the many other officers subject to impeachment."

“So why is the president different when the impeachment clause doesn’t say so?” Barrett asked.

Sauer cited an opinion from former Solicitor General Robert Bork, who – Sauer said – found the sequence of impeachment in the Senate was required before criminal prosecution only for a president.

It's worth noting that when Trump was impeached in early 2021, there were several Republicans who argued at the time that it was unnecessary because Trump could face criminal charges for his conduct.