Even if convicted, Donald Trump can continue his campaign for another term in the White House
Washington:
Donald Trump could continue his campaign for another term in the White House even as the embattled former US president is indicted for illegally retaining classified government documents after he leaves office in 2021.
Donald Trump, 77, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 37 federal felony counts related to the mishandling of classified documents at the federal courthouse in Miami, Florida.
This is the first time federal charges have been brought against a former president. The indictment is the second criminal case filed against Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election.
In early April, Trump surrendered to authorities in New York and appeared in state court to face 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. He also pleaded not guilty to those charges.
On May 9, Trump was found liable in a civil case brought by columnist E Jean Carroll, who claimed he raped and defamed her. Trump denied those allegations. The jury did not find that he raped Carroll, but did find that he sexually assaulted her, and ordered him to pay restitution of approximately US$5 million.
The three cases raise an intriguing question about his bid to retake the White House in 2024: Can he still become US president if he is convicted in New York or Florida, or is he now liable in the Carroll case? found? The short answer from a legal perspective is yes, according to experts.
If Trump is convicted, no charge can stop him from taking office. A trial will take place several months from now, and Trump can campaign freely in the meantime.
“Nothing prevents Trump from being indicted or even convicted,” Richard Hassan, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, told CNN.
The constitution requires only three things from candidates: a candidate must be a natural-born citizen, must be at least 35 years old, and must have been a resident of the United States for at least 14 years.
There are a few other constitutional restrictions that may prevent a person from running for president — but they don’t apply to Trump.
It is very widely accepted that the list of qualifications in the Constitution is exclusive — that is, Congress or the states cannot add qualifications to those listed in the Constitution,” said Derek Mueller, a law professor at the University of Iowa, prior to Trump’s impeachment. Said .
CBS News quoted him as saying, “It’s something that doesn’t really affect your ability to stand as a candidate, appear on the ballot, or even win an election.”
“If you’re convicted of a felony and are in prison, you can’t vote, but you can win an election. The point is that there were very few qualifications, and it had to be left up to the voters or the public. The state, Mueller said.
In the wake of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, some House Democrats introduced a bill to bar Trump from re-election by invoking the 14th Amendment to those who “engage in rebellion or insurrection” or “aid or comfort” stops anyone. “To America’s enemies after taking an oath to support the Constitution.
That bill didn’t make it out of the House of Representatives before Republicans took control in January.
The former president also faces several other criminal investigations at the state and federal levels that could complicate his ability to campaign for the nomination. But none of those cases would technically bar him from running for or winning the White House, even if he was ultimately convicted, the report said.
The current US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has already announced his bid for the White House for the second time.
The next presidential election is scheduled for November 5, 2024.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)