https://www.mediaite.com/news/trump-lawyer-argues-presidents-can-order-seal-team-6-to-assassinate-rivals-in-stunning-appeals-exchange/

JUDGE PAN: Could a president order Seal Team Six to assassinate a political rival? That’s an official act, an order to Seal Team Six.

JOHN SAUER: He would have to be and would speedily be, you know, uh, impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution–

JUDGE PAN: But there would be no criminal prosecution, no criminal liability for that?

JOHN SAUER: Chief Justice’s opinion in Marbury against Madison and, uh, uh, and our Constitution and the plain language of the impeachment judgment clause all clearly presuppose that what the founders were concerned about was not.

JUDGE PAN: I asked you a yes, no, yes or no question. Could a president who ordered Seal Team Six to assassinate a political rival, who was not impeached, would he be subject to criminal prosecution.

JOHN SAUER: If he were impeached and convicted first.

JUDGE PAN: So your answer is no.

JOHN SAUER: My answer is qualified. Yes. There’s a political process that will have to occur under the structure of our Constitution, which would require impeachment and conviction by the Senate in these exceptional cases, as the OLC memo number itself points out from the Department of Justice, you’d expect a speedy impeachment conviction.

But what the founders are much more worried about than using criminal prosecution to discipline presidents was what, uh, James Madison calls in Federalist number 47, the, you know, the new-fangled and artificial treasons. They were much more concerned about the abuse of the criminal process for political purposes, to disable the presidency from factions and political opponents. And, of course, that’s exactly what we see in this case.