(Trends Wide Spanish) — The investigation into former President Donald Trump’s role in a hush-pay scheme appears to be drawing to a close, which has revived a key question going into 2024: can the former president run for the White House if he is convicted? for a crime?
The courts have not fully resolved this issue, but the general consensus is that neither an indictment nor a conviction would legally bar Trump from being elected.
In the past, not only have convicted felons run for federal charges, but at least one has successfully run for president from jail: Eugene Debs, a socialist candidate for the White House in the early 20th century, won more than 900,000 votes in a 1920 presidential campaign he ran while imprisoned on an espionage conviction.
The reason the widespread view is that a conviction would not prevent Trump’s return to the White House is the widespread legal argument that only the Constitution sets the standards that candidates must meet to be president.
“It’s pretty well accepted that the requirements to be president are listed in the Constitution,” Derek Muller, professor of Election Law at the University of Iowa School of Law, told Trends Wide in November. “And the mere fact of having been convicted of a crime is not one of them, and states and Congress cannot add anything to those qualifications.”
The magna carta establishes only three conditions for a person to be president, according to constitutional lawyer Rafael Penalver, consulted by Trends Wide en Español: he must have been born in the United States, he must have resided in the country for at least 14 years, and he must be 35 years or older.
“At no time does the Constitution say that having been convicted of a crime or having been prosecuted or even serving prison can prevent you from aspiring or serving as president,” he says, in what he describes as a very “sui generis” feature of the country. North American. In other words, according to the expert “theoretically it is feasible” that a person can govern even in an orange suit.
Muller, for his part, said that “it could be a practical barrier, it could be a fundraising barrier,” but in all cases “these are political issues, not legal.”
What did Trump say about his intentions?
Trump announced in November his intention to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, in a bid to become the second president elected to two non-consecutive terms in the country.
If the Manhattan district attorney’s office indicts the former president, it would be a rare moment in history: Trump would become the first former US president to be indicted and also the first major indicted presidential candidate seeking office.
The former president has said he “wouldn’t even think about dropping out” of the 2024 race if he is indicted.
So far, the former president has not been formally charged with any crime by a government, a state or a city, but he is under scrutiny by all three. He denies wrongdoing in all matters in which he is implicated, which are linked to personal, political and economic issues. You can see what the investigations against him are here.
With information from Fredreka Schouten, Tierney Sneed, Angela Reyes, Kara Scannell, Devan Cole, and Zachary B. Wolf.
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(Trends Wide Spanish) — The investigation into former President Donald Trump’s role in a hush-pay scheme appears to be drawing to a close, which has revived a key question going into 2024: can the former president run for the White House if he is convicted? for a crime?
The courts have not fully resolved this issue, but the general consensus is that neither an indictment nor a conviction would legally bar Trump from being elected.
In the past, not only have convicted felons run for federal charges, but at least one has successfully run for president from jail: Eugene Debs, a socialist candidate for the White House in the early 20th century, won more than 900,000 votes in a 1920 presidential campaign he ran while imprisoned on an espionage conviction.
The reason the widespread view is that a conviction would not prevent Trump’s return to the White House is the widespread legal argument that only the Constitution sets the standards that candidates must meet to be president.
“It’s pretty well accepted that the requirements to be president are listed in the Constitution,” Derek Muller, professor of Election Law at the University of Iowa School of Law, told Trends Wide in November. “And the mere fact of having been convicted of a crime is not one of them, and states and Congress cannot add anything to those qualifications.”
The magna carta establishes only three conditions for a person to be president, according to constitutional lawyer Rafael Penalver, consulted by Trends Wide en Español: he must have been born in the United States, he must have resided in the country for at least 14 years, and he must be 35 years or older.
“At no time does the Constitution say that having been convicted of a crime or having been prosecuted or even serving prison can prevent you from aspiring or serving as president,” he says, in what he describes as a very “sui generis” feature of the country. North American. In other words, according to the expert “theoretically it is feasible” that a person can govern even in an orange suit.
Muller, for his part, said that “it could be a practical barrier, it could be a fundraising barrier,” but in all cases “these are political issues, not legal.”
What did Trump say about his intentions?
Trump announced in November his intention to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, in a bid to become the second president elected to two non-consecutive terms in the country.
If the Manhattan district attorney’s office indicts the former president, it would be a rare moment in history: Trump would become the first former US president to be indicted and also the first major indicted presidential candidate seeking office.
The former president has said he “wouldn’t even think about dropping out” of the 2024 race if he is indicted.
So far, the former president has not been formally charged with any crime by a government, a state or a city, but he is under scrutiny by all three. He denies wrongdoing in all matters in which he is implicated, which are linked to personal, political and economic issues. You can see what the investigations against him are here.
With information from Fredreka Schouten, Tierney Sneed, Angela Reyes, Kara Scannell, Devan Cole, and Zachary B. Wolf.
