BBC presenter calls for Trump to be murdered by Biden

A BBC presenter is under fire after he took to social media and said that former US President Donald Trump should be murdered by Biden. This has yet again led to a debate surrounding BBC’s rules on its employees' social media conduct and political neutrality. David Aaronovitch who is the presenter of Radio 4’s Briefing Room Show took to X (formerly Twitter) and made these comments. He added that Trump was a threat to America’s national security. He defended these comments and was seen ridiculing comments which disagreed with his approach. He finally deleted it towards the end.

Comments:

David made these comments with the hashtag #SCOTUS. He said that “If I was Biden I’d hurry up and have Trump murdered on the basis that he is a threat to America’s security #SCOTUS”.

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Hashtag:

The use of the hashtag suggests that he was referring to the verdict of the US Supreme Court which granted complete legal immunity to Trump for all his official acts as the US President. The court said that he cannot be prosecuted for any act done in his official capacity when he was the US President. The ruling was 6-3 in Trump’s favor.

David’s comments:

He continued to defend his comments and attacked those who differed with him on his views. He asked many of the people to read the verdict of the US Supreme Court on presidential immunity. He accused others of personally favoring right wing candidates in the UK and launched a personal attack on them. He finally deleted the tweet after 90 minutes.

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Will BBC take any action against David Aaronovitch?

In September 2023, the BBC had introduced new social media rules. It had restricted its presenters from airing their political views, especially those related to party politics. It is not yet clear if BBC will take any action against David.

FAQs:

Can Trump claim immunity from prosecution in the Hush Money case?
The Supreme Court has granted immunity to only the official actions of the US President when in office. This case pertains an act before he became the US President and hence, he cannot claim any immunity from prosecution.

Can Trump secure an official nomination from the Republican Party even after all the cases have been registered against him?
Legally, there is no ground for disqualification that has been prescribed for an individual to run for the office of the US President, if he has been convicted by a court of law. Hence, the Republicans can still nominate him as an official presidential nominee.