Former President Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in his secret trial and can still be elected president – even though he was found guilty – experts told ABC News.
But there are practical reasons that could make this a challenge, experts told ABC News after Trump was indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last April.
Trump maintained his innocence after the verdict Thursday: “It was a shame,” Trump told reporters. “It was a rigged trial by a conflicted and corrupt judge. It’s a rigged trial, a shame.”
Sentencing is scheduled for July 11.
Constitutional experts also told ABC News that previous Supreme Court rulings held that Congress could not add qualifications to the office of president. Additionally, a state cannot prohibit indicted or convicted felons from running for federal office.
The US Constitution does not mention the absence of a criminal record as a condition for access to the presidency. It only says that natural-born citizens, at least 35 years old and residing in the United States for 14 years, can run for president.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump reacts to the reading of the verdict in his criminal trial for falsifying business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in court Manhattan State in New York, May 30, 2024. , in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
“Some people are surprised to learn that there is no constitutional ban on a felon running for president, but there isn’t,” said Kate Shaw, a legal analyst at ABC News and professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
He also said he would still run even if found guilty. In an interview with radio host John Fredericks, Trump was asked if a conviction would end his White House campaign.
“Not at all, nothing in the Constitution says that could be the case, and not at all,” he said.
The former president struck a similarly defiant tone last year at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) when he told the crowd that he would “absolutely” remain in the presidential race even if he were to be criminally charged.
No charges were brought against him at the time.
“Because of the 22nd Amendment, a person cannot have been elected president twice before,” Shaw said. “But there is nothing in the Constitution that prevents individuals convicted of crimes from running for or holding the office of president.”
Shaw said that while incarceration would “likely make campaigning difficult if not impossible,” the obstacle would be a “practical, not a legal, problem.”
James Sampler, a constitutional law professor at Hofstra University, told ABC News that the Constitution sets the minimum requirements, but leaves the rest up to voters.
“It depends on the wisdom of the people to determine that an individual is unfit for office,” Sampler said. “So the most fundamental obstacle that President Trump faces in running for office in 2024 is the obstacle that everyone else faces, but he does it in a different and more pronounced way, i.e. say prove to voters that the individual deserves this position.”
If the law prevented Trump from traveling out of state, Sampler said, it would impose a practical limitation on his ability to travel across the country and campaign — but it would not prohibit him from running.
Sampler also pointed out the irony of the electoral system, in which many states prohibit convicted felons from voting.
“It is a sad day for a country that ostensibly values democratic participation and equality, that individuals who have been convicted of a crime can be barred from even participating as voters in our democracy, but that a president convicted of a crime is still allowed,” he said. Jessica Levinson, an election law professor at Loyola Law School, agreed.
“The interesting thing about the qualifications is that you have to be born here, you have to live here for a certain amount of time…all of that kind of leads us to the idea that we want you to be loyal to our country,” he added. “, Levinson said. “But you could very well be convicted of crimes against our country, and still retain the opportunity to serve as president.”
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in each of the investigations, calling them partisan witch hunts intended to interfere with his 2024 presidential bid.
ABC News
