17 minutes agoCan a convicted Donald Trump become president of the United States?
Periskopi(2 years ago)
(2 years ago)Donald Trump was convicted, for the first time, a former American president is convicted by law. What does that mean for his presidential candidacy? What if he was supposed to go to jail? Donald Trump, the Republican Party's most likely candidate for the November 2024 presidential elections, has been found guilty in the process of [...]
Donald Trump was convicted, for the first time, a former American president is convicted by law. What does that mean for his presidential candidacy? What if he was supposed to go to jail?
Donald Trump, the Republican Party's most likely candidate for the November 2024 presidential elections, has been found guilty in the first court process against a former American president. The court jury in New York found Trump guilty at 34 points in the indictment. By April 15th, the court charged whether in the 2016 presidential election campaign it was paid to keep Trump's stories of extramarital sex with a porn star. This process was the first in four court processes to face Trump. Georgia allegedly has had efforts to change the failed election outcome in this federal state in the 2020 presidential election. There are two other processes against him, involving spreading lies about electoral manipulations to stay in power, as well as preserving secret government documents after leaving the White House.
Can Trump run in case of detention?
Yeah. Regardless of how the court processes against him end, Trump will be able to run for president-in-law. The U.S. Constitution imposes three requirements for people who target the post: They must be citizens born in the United States and at least 35. And they must have lived 14 years in the United States. Nowhere is it said that a convicted criminal cannot run or become president.
Can Trump be discredited under American Constitution, Article 14?
Paragraph 3 of the additional article 14 of the U.S. constitution says that the persons that “participated in a revolt or rebellion”, after swearing to the constitution, are excluded from the exercise of “a civilian or military duty in the United States”.
Activists who want to see the former president discredited on this basis cite Trump's behaviour before the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. They say, that Trump's lies, that the Democrats stole the elections, prompted the right-wing crowd to assault Capitol. That is why they view it as their participation in rebellion.
In a series of federal states, there has been efforts to remove Trump from the preliminary elections on the basis of this additional article. In March 2024, the Supreme Court rejected Colorado's request, claiming that federal states have no authority to exclude persons from the candidacy for federal office.
Can Trump vote despite the sentence?
Probably not. Trump is registered as a voter in Florida. Condemned persons have no right to vote there. “Most of those sentenced in Florida regain the right to vote, after having fully carried out their” sentence, explains New York Times political affairs reporter Maggie Astor. If Trump is sentenced on bail, then still not enough time to settle his sentence to regain his vote. The penalty measure will be handed out on July 11th, a few days later, the Republican candidate appointment congress begins.
But if Trump was to go to jail, what would happen?
There is no clear answer to that. “We are very far from everything that happened earlier”, said Erwin Chemerinsky, constitutional expert at California University in Berkeley for New York Times before the process. “This would be pure speculation.” First of all, Trump would be right about his candidacy, even if he's in jail. But a president who is voted, while in prison, would be a logistical challenge. Astor's contractor speculates, that Trump could seek release “with reasoning, that his imprisonment would prevent him from fulfilling his constitutional obligations as president.” But it's all speculation, it hasn't happened before, and it's not easy to make the parachutes. / DW
