Washington — After being indicted in March, former President Donald Trump surrendered to authorities in New York at the beginning of April for his arraignment in state court. He pleaded not guilty to all 34 felony counts of first-degree business records falsification against him.
An intriguing question regarding his bid to retake the White House arises from the possibility of a trial: If he is found guilty, could he still become president?
Experts say that, from a legal point of view, the short answer is "yes."
Even though charges against a leading candidate for the presidential nomination of a major party and a former president are unprecedented, the Constitution does not prohibit someone who has been charged or convicted from running for office. An indictment is not a conviction because the specific charge or charges have not been made public.
"It's pretty broadly acknowledged that the rundown of capabilities in the Constitution is selective — that is, Congress or states can't add capabilities to those recorded in the Constitution," said Derek Muller, a regulation teacher at the College of Iowa, before Trump's prosecution. " It really has no bearing on your ability to run for office, appear on the ballot, or even win the election.
Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, has convened a New York grand jury to investigate the $130,000 payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election. In exchange for Daniels agreeing not to disclose an alleged affair she claimed she had with Trump a decade earlier, which he denies, Michael Cohen, Trump's then-attorney and "fixer," made the payment.
Cohen was paid back by Trump, and it is believed that prosecutors are looking into the possibility of falsifying business records in relation to the reimbursements. Trump has refuted every accusation. Lawyer Robert Costello, a Trump partner who says he prompted Cohen on legitimate issues, said he let the terrific jury know that Cohen followed up on his own understanding in organizing the arrangement with Daniels and was a "absolutely temperamental" witness.
It is anticipated that the decision to charge Trump will cause shockwaves throughout the political world and add an unpredictable new dimension to the GOP nomination race in 2024. However, the Constitution specifies only three requirements for becoming president from a legal standpoint: The individual must be 35 years old or older, a naturalized citizen of the United States, and have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.
Indeed, criminally convicted candidates have previously run for president. Even running for president from prison has been done before.
Dan Ortiz, a professor at the University of Virginia Law School, mentioned Eugene Debs, the Socialist Party nominee who ran for president in 1920 while incarcerated in an Atlanta federal prison. Due to an anti-war speech, Debs had been found guilty of violating the Espionage Act. He received more than 3% of the national vote.
Ortiz made the statement, "I know of nothing that would have barred him from the office if he had won the election."
Between 1976 and 2004, Lyndon LaRouche, a fringe candidate who supported economic apocalyptic conspiracy theories, ran for president in every election. In 1988, he was found guilty of mail and tax fraud, but that didn't stop him from running his 1992 campaign from prison.
In spite of the fact that there might be useful obstacles engaged with running a mission under the shadow of criminal accusations, remembering any limitations for movement forced by an adjudicator, there are no sacred obstructions to partaking in the political race, as per Muller.
Muller stated, "You can win the election if you are convicted of a felony and incarcerated." The point is that there were only supposed to be a few requirements, and it was supposed to be up to the voters or the state."
A bill that invoked the 14th Amendment, which prohibits anyone who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" or "given aid or comfort" to enemies of the United States after taking an oath to support the Constitution, was introduced by some House Democrats in response to the attack on the Capitol on January 6. Before Republicans took control of the House in January, that bill never saw the light of day.
Some of Trump's allies have argued that Trump's being charged would actually help him win the GOP nomination because it would get the Republican base to support him. Top GOP lawmakers and his rivals for the nomination have largely framed the indictment as an abuse of power by Manhattan prosecutors and have been reluctant to directly criticize Trump thus far.
The former president is also the subject of a number of additional state and federal criminal investigations, which could hinder his ability to campaign for the nomination. However, even if he is ultimately found guilty, none of those cases would technically prevent him from running for or winning the White House.
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