Here's why Trump can still run for president — even though he's been indicted
Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf
Former President Donald Trump faces four different criminal investigations by three different levels of government – the Manhattan district attorney; the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney; and the Department of Justice.
Even though he has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury he can still run for president in 2024. Trump announced his candidacy in November.
“Nothing stops Trump from running while indicted, or even convicted,” Richard Hasen said, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Constitution requires only three things of candidates:
As a political matter, it’s maybe more difficult for an indicted candidate, who could become a convicted criminal, to win votes. Trials don’t let candidates put their best foot forward, but it is not forbidden for them to run or be elected.
There are a few asterisks both in the Constitution and the 14th and 22nd Amendments, none of which currently apply to Trump in the cases thought to be closest to formal indictment.
The indictment in New York City with regard to the hush-money payment to an adult-film star has nothing to do with rebellion or insurrection. Nor do potential federal charges with regard to classified documents.
Potential charges in Fulton County, Georgia, with regard to 2020 election meddling or at the federal level with regard to the January 6, 2021, insurrection could perhaps be construed by some as a form of insurrection. But that is an open question that would have to work its way through the courts. The 2024 election is fast approaching.
Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke about Trump's indictment on CNN. Here's what he said
From CNN staff
Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke to CNN's Wolf Blitzer during a CNN Primetime interview and reacted to the news of the grand jury indictment of Donald Trump. Here's a recap of everything he said:
On the indictment:
"I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage," he said Thursday night.
The indictment appears “for millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution," he added.
Charging the former president is a "disservice to the country" that will only divide people further, Pence added. "I think the American people will look at this and see it as one more example of the criminalization of politics in this country," he said.
Pence said that while "no one is above the law, including former presidents," he cannot "speak to the merit of this case at all."
On considering to run for president in 2024.
Notably, Pence said while considering the decision to launch a presidential run, the New York grand jury's decision to indict Trump has “no bearing on our decision."
He said for his family it comes down “to our sense of calling" and that he intends to continue to travel around the country and listen to Americans.
On Trump raising the possibility of "death and destruction."
”There’s no excuse for that kind of rhetoric on either side of this debate,” Pence said. “And there's really no reason to be calling for people to be protesting over it as well.”
Analysis: Trump’s criminal indictment unleashes a bitter new phase in American politics
Analysis by CNN's Stephen Collinson
The first-ever criminal indictment of a former American president creates a uniquely perilous moment for a polarized republic already repeatedly driven to the brink by the endless norm-busting of Donald Trump.
The prosecution of the 45th president – and his attempts to inflame a partisan firestorm to protect himself – are likely to consume America’s already poisoned politics, threaten to rock yet another presidential election and may pose the most critical challenge yet to its system of justice.
It is the latest stunning barrier shattered by the nation’s most unruly president. And it means that after a tumultuous four-year term, a historic two impeachments, an election falsely tainted by Trump’s lies about fraud and a mob attack by his supporters on Congress, a new national nightmare may be ahead.
There is nothing in American history that approaches the tumult of the charging and possible trial and conviction of a former president – especially since Trump and his supporters are already claiming that the indictment represents the weaponized politicization of the justice system.
Given the extreme national political estrangement exacerbated by Trump, this case is likely to leave the country changed however it turns out. There will be fears, for instance, that it will crush one of the last remaining precedents for political restraint and leave future presidents vulnerable to prosecution in a manner more akin to fragile failing states than the world’s most vital democracy. Yet at the same time, if Trump has indeed committed crimes, a failure to pursue him would send a message that the powerful can get away with behavior that ordinary Americans cannot.
The move was especially stunning given Trump’s long record of impunity, which has seen him constantly stretch the limits of the law and the conventions of accepted behavior with his uproarious personal, business and political careers. Suddenly, Trump’s decades of evading accountability will end. The former president will have to start answering for his conduct, likely beginning in court on Tuesday after he travels to New York to be arraigned in what will be a high-security spectacle given his past incitement of violence.
Trump insists he is innocent of all allegations, in this case as well as in several others that may pose even greater legal peril, including special counsel investigations into his hoarding of classified documents and his conduct around the 2020 election and a separate Georgia investigation into his bid to steal the election in the swing state.
The ex-president quickly showed he’s ready to drive the country into a deep political crisis as he mounts his defense with wild claims of persecution. He accused Democrats of weaponizing justice to thwart his 2024 White House bid – a claim that threatens to shatter the credibility of the next election in the eyes of millions of his followers and further damage US democracy.
“This is an attack on our country the likes of which has never been seen before,” Trump wrote in block capitals on his Truth Social network. “It is likewise a continuing attack on our once free and fair elections. The USA is now a third world nation, a nation in serious decline. So sad!”
Like all Americans accused of crimes, Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence and his full rights under the Constitution, which he tried to overturn on January, 6, 2021. The perception of this extraordinary case will turn on two questions fundamental to the credibility of American justice: Are all citizens – even the most powerful, like former presidents and White House candidates – considered equal under the law? Or is Trump being singled out because of who he is?
The indictment voted by the grand jury remains under seal, so the exact charges and the extent of evidence against him remain unclear. But many legal experts have questioned whether a case possibly alleging fraudulent accounting and subsequent infringements of election law would rise to the magnitude that might justify the nation-shaking act of indicting a former president and frontrunner for the 2024 GOP nomination. Some observers have warned against a case that might rely heavily on the testimony of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who made the payments to Stormy Daniels and has already served a jail sentence for charges that included lying to Congress.
Even if there is plentiful evidence that makes this a relatively simple sell to a jury, the fame and the power of the defendant means the case will unfold in a court of public opinion. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is under enormous pressure since if he fails to secure a conviction, he will be accused even more than he already is of building a politicized case that could tear gaping new divides in the country.
Trump reaches out to GOP leaders and key committee members following indictment
From CNN's Melanie Zanona
Donald Trump has called key allies on Capitol Hill to shore up support in the wake of his indictment, including members of House GOP leadership and lawmakers who serve on the committees that are trying to investigate the Manhattan District’s Attorney Office, according to a senior GOP source familiar with the conversations.
In the phone calls Thursday, which the source described as “check-ins,” the former president told allies he plans to fight the charges and continued to rail against the indictment and District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump responds to indictment, calling it "political persecution"
Former President Donald Trump responded Thursday after a grand jury voted to indict him with a statement, calling it "Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history."
"This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history. From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats — the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country — have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement. You remember it just like I do: Russia, Russia, Russia; the Mueller Hoax; Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine; Impeachment Hoax 1; Impeachment Hoax 2; the illegal and unconstitutional Mar-a-Lago raid; and now this."The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable — indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference.
"Never before in our Nation’s history has this been done. The Democrats have cheated countless times over the decades, including spying on my campaign, but weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States and by far the leading Republican candidate for President, has never happened before. Ever.
"Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who was hand-picked and funded by George Soros, is a disgrace. Rather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, he’s doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on. This is how Bragg spends his time!
"I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden. The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party — united and strong — will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump also posted on Truth Social saying in all caps that the indictment "is an attack on our country the likes of which has never been seen before. It is likewise a continuing attack on our once free and fair elections."
Biden has a clear — and quiet — road map as he confronts an unprecedented challenge
From CNN's Phil Mattingly
There has been no statement from President Joe Biden following the news of former President Donald Trump's indictment.
No comment came from the White House and there is little evidence that public posture will change any time soon, even as officials acknowledge they will be closely monitoring any security issues that may develop.
“He’s the president, not a legal analyst,” one Democrat in regular contact with the White House said. “He has an administration to run.”
Biden’s initial silence in the wake of Trump’s indictment isn’t a surprise. While officials inside the West Wing were as surprised as the rest of the country by the news, there was no scramble to prepare anything to release publicly.
Instead, Biden faces a convergence of two clear, if unofficial, animating principles of his first two years in office: don’t engage in ongoing legal cases and don’t get distracted by issues that don’t have a tangible effect on Americans.
The approach is designed, at least in part, to keep the administration’s focus on its priorities and agenda. But the unmistakably clear contrast it creates with Biden’s predecessor is neither subtle nor unintentional as a political message.
For Biden, who pledged to bring down the political pressure that threatened to fracture the country under Trump’s watch, it’s a strategy that will now be tested by a new front in the partisan warfare that has animated Trump’s campaigns and presidency.
If there’s anything that would draw a proactive response from Biden, one official said in the days before the indictment, it would be concern about violence in its aftermath. But officials maintain there have still been no briefings or warnings that suggest the threat of violence is imminent, despite Trump’s social media posts over the last two weeks.
“We’re constantly monitoring this – as you would think we should, particularly in the wake of what happened on January 6,” John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, told reporters last week.
Officials declined to provide a window into how Biden heard of the indictment news, or what he was doing in the hours after. It was already clear there would be no opportunity for reporters to ask him directly.
The White House had issued a “lid” – the notice to reporters there would be nothing more from Biden on Thursday – more than an hour before the news broke.
Pence: Indictment of Trump "is an outrage"
Former Vice President Mike Pence called the grand jury indictment of Donald Trump an "outrage."
"I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage," he said Thursday night, speaking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer during a CNN Primetime interview.
He said the indictment appears “for millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution."
Pence said charging the former president is a "disservice to the country" that will only divide people further.
"I think the American people will look at this and see it as one more example of the criminalization of politics in this country," he said.
Now that Trump has been indicted, here's what to expect in the days to come
From CNN's Tierney Sneed, Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz
A Manhattan grand jury’s indictment of former President Donald Trump will set in motion a criminal process that will in some ways work like that of any other defendant, and in other ways, look very different.
When someone is indicted, the charges are sometimes kept under seal until the defendant’s first appearance in court. The charges that the grand jury approved against Trump are currently not public.
“This evening we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected,” a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
First appearance: First appearances are usually public proceedings. In some cases, arrangements are made with defendants or their lawyers for a self-surrender – or voluntarily turning themselves in – to law enforcement.
With their first appearance in court, defendants are usually booked and finger-printed.
Trump’s attorneys were informed of the grand jury’s vote shortly after the indictment was publicly reported, sources told CNN.
Trump will likely be allowed to turn himself in voluntarily, and multiple sources told CNN the former president is expected to appear in court Tuesday for his arraignment.
What happens in a first appearance can vary. If a first appearance is also an arraignment, a plea is expected to be entered. It is typical that release conditions are discussed – such as travel restrictions or home confinement – at a first appearance and defendants are informed of their rights. The lawyers for the government and the defendant also often enter their appearance at this stage of the court proceedings.
Additional security: Trump will have to go through certain processes that any other defendant must go through when a charge has been brought against him. But his status as a former president who is currently running again for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 will undoubtedly inject additional security and practical concerns around the next steps in his case.
Whatever travel Trump must take for his arraignment will need to be coordinated with Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies.
Those conversations between the Secret Service, the US Marshals Service and the New York Police Department have begun, a senior NYPD source told CNN.
NYPD officers were told Thursday evening via internal memo that they should be in uniform and ready for deployment on Friday.
CNN's Kara Scannell, Paula Reid, Lauren DelValle, Shimon Prokupecz, Brynn Gingras and Evan Perez contributed to this reporting.
Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in Manhattan grand jury indictment, sources tell CNN
From CNN's Kara Scannell, John Miller, Jeremy Herb and Devan Cole
Donald Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, according to two sources familiar with the case – the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.
The indictment has been filed under seal and will be announced in the coming days. The charges are not publicly known at this time. Trump will likely be arraigned in court early next week, according to his defense attorney, Joe Tacopina.
The DA’s office has been investigating the former president in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will reach out to Trump’s attorneys to discuss his surrender to face an arraignment.
The decision is sure to send shockwaves across the country, pushing the American political system – which has never seen one of its ex-leaders confronted with criminal charges, let alone while running again for president – into uncharted waters.
Trump released a statement in response to the indictment claiming it was “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”
“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,” the former president said. “The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement that Trump “is a victim of a corrupt and distorted version of the American justice system and history. He will be vindicated.”
Read more about the indictment here.