Can Donald Trump be elected president if he is indicted?

After former US President Donald Trump announced yesterday that he would “probably be arrested” for hush money he paid a porn star in 2016, many around the world began to wonder how Trump’s criminal affairs would affect his intention to run for president in 2024, and whether he would even be able to To be elected president if he is indicted? All the answers.

Trump is at the center of a major investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg into a hush money payment made to a porn star by Mr Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen in 2016. The investigation has entered a new phase in recent weeks, and now Mr. Bragg’s office has contacted the president’s lawyers to offer an opportunity to testify voluntarily, a sign that an indictment or indictments are likely in the works.

Trump himself predicted last night that he would be arrested next week. “The far and away leading Republican candidate and former President of the United States of America, will be arrested Tuesday of next week. Protest, take back our nation!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in an angry message.

If Trump is charged with a crime, it would be the first time that the investigation into his inner circle (of which there have been several, the most famous of which led to multiple indictments against figures associated with the 2016 campaign) has actually incriminated the former president himself.

The Justice Department’s protocol against impeaching a sitting president appears to have chilled any ability for the agency to do so while in office, but when he lost the presidency in 2020 he opened the door to prosecution in both the 2016 Stormy Daniels case and an investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and his efforts of Trump to cancel the elections and their results.

The second investigation is ongoing, with the distinct possibility of potential charges for both Trump and members of his legal team, and it begs the question: What happens to the 2024 race, and to Donald Trump’s ability to participate, if he is criminally indicted?

The short answer is, not much. There are no limits in the U.S. Constitution that prevent anyone who has been indicted or convicted of a crime, or even is currently serving, from running for or winning the presidency. Even if tried and convicted in one of the so-called “speed trials” he has repeatedly applauded the Chinese government for acting In cases of drug offenses, Mr. Trump can still run his presidential campaign from a prison cell.

What is much less clear is what would have happened if he had won in this scenario. Just as there are no restrictions in the constitution for a person to face at the time of an indictment, there is no explanation of what should happen in the event that he is acquitted. There is nothing in the document that would automatically grant Trump a reprieve from prison time, except for the likelihood that any charges brought by federal authorities, if still pending at the point Trump takes office for a second term, will be dropped due to the Justice Department’s refusal to prosecute a sitting president.

Persecutory state-level charges are much more complicated, and would fall outside Trump’s pardon authority if they result in a conviction. If a conviction on state charges occurs alongside a Trump election victory, it will likely lead to a massive legal battle to determine whether there is a way for the former president to work his way out of office.

If Trump were unable to avoid this outcome, it would almost certainly lead to his impeachment or impeachment via the 25th Amendment, which allows the cabinet to remove a president who is unable to carry out his duties. There are many duties and trappings of the presidency that would simply be impossible to operate or perform from a prison cell, viewing classified materials by name only.

Any potential Trump conviction is still a long way off. But the conversations he opened with his run for president despite multiple criminal investigations have already turned parts of theoretical US constitutional law into a far more real place than many pundits ever thought he would see.