General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDoes Trump have to win in 2020 to avoid indictment?
If a sitting president cant be indicted as many pundits say, and if the statute of limitations on charges of campaign finance violations run out in 2022, I would think hed have to win again to avoid prosecution. If he is impeached and somehow we can find 18 GOP Senators to vote for removal, I guess he could be indicted but Pence would pardon. And if he loses in 2020, the statute of limitations wouldnt have run out and could be indicted.
Any thoughts?
PJMcK
(22,702 posts)safeinOhio
(33,835 posts)However I will predict that, we aint seen nutting yet.
dameatball
(7,569 posts)I don't intend to waste a lot of time worrying about impeachment until the time is right. Nothing wrong with people speculating, but I just don't have enough to go on. All these threads can sort of be a nice civics class though.
kentuck
(112,491 posts)He has to win.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)elocs
(23,026 posts)was Hoover's FBI but that the FBI of the 21st century was Mueller's FBI and that it would pursue Trump even when he left office.
Sneederbunk
(14,953 posts)Must resign during term to get a Nixon/Ford deal, assuming his successor is a Dem.
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)If there is an unavoidable obstacle to indictment, court may find that the SOL doesn't expire until after the President is out of office.
One way to look at this: There are laws against election fraud to make elections fair. Congress could not have intended that SOL helps a Presidential candidate evade prosecution if and only if the candidate is successful.
Vinca
(50,849 posts)The theory seems to be that a criminal indictment would cause a POTUS to spend too much time on his defense and he wouldn't have time to run the country. If I were the prosecutor I would challenge it in court with the number of days Individual One has spent golfing and how his schedules seem to reflect he spends about 90% of the time watching television.
Jarqui
(10,416 posts)who said something to the effect that
"it is DoJ policy to not indict and prosecute a sitting president but there is no DoJ policy against indictment and dealing with it after he leaves office"
The basis is that an indictment can distract a sitting president to the potential detriment of the country. But the workaround is to indict under seal to get around that.
I have read in the not-so-mainstream media that this has already happened. Allegedly, there are several sealed federal indictments from Mueller (between a dozen to three dozen).
To pardon proof it, they would need to indict at the state level. I don't know if anyone has been checking there.
pnwmom
(109,425 posts)but that would only apply to Federal crimes.
For all we know, he could be subject to indictment for STATE crimes already. It has never been tested.