Washington: Former U.S. President Donald Trump has said in a speech that former President Harry Truman would not have dropped atomic bombs on Japan during World War II had he been worried about being criminally prosecuted for it.

A president should be given immunity, Trump said at a rally in New Hampshire on Saturday. Otherwise, Truman would not have dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Trump argued.

The atomic bombings were “not exactly a nice act,” but they ended the war, he also said. The August 1945 attacks, during the closing days of the war, flattened the two Japanese cities.

Trump, indicted for trying to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election, has argued in court that those who serve as president should not be criminally prosecuted unless they are impeached.

It is customary for sitting U.S. presidents not to face criminal charges. A federal district court ruled last year, however, that they lose immunity after leaving office, possibly making them subject to punishment for criminal acts committed during their tenures.

Trump, who is now leading the Republican Party nomination race for the presidential election in November this year, has appealed against the ruling.

JIJI Press