What happens if Trump is elected president under impeachment? “This is new territory”

Former President Donald Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday after nearly two weeks of anticipation as he said he expected to be arrested on alleged campaign finance violations.

While Trump remains the clear front-runner in the Republican presidential field and shows no signs of slowing down his campaign, myriad questions remain about what a second Trump presidency might look like if he is elected while under impeachment.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office was reportedly investigating alleged hush money payments made by Trump in 2016 as a presidential candidate to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.

It was not immediately clear Thursday what charges were being leveled against the former president.

TRUMP SUBMITTED AFTER MANHATTAN DA INVESTIGATION FOR SILENCE PAYMENTS

There are no constitutional restrictions preventing Trump from continuing his campaign and eventually returning to the White House if elected during the impeachment, meaning the country is quickly entering uncharted waters.

Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, told Fox News Digital there are no “hard and fast legal rules” for the process, consequently giving politics plenty of breathing room.

“Presumably, the president’s attorneys would proceed to hold the indictments in abeyance only to interrupt them while he was in office,” Shapiro said. “I can’t imagine a president being taken into custody and sentenced to prison while he’s acting president. Then there could also be impeachment charges. It would be a political matter.”

“Presumably these charges can go ahead, but as a precautionary measure, I would imagine that a court would stay these types of charges on national security grounds, not for reasons of presidential privilege or anything, just as a precautionary measure and given the nature of the face of the.” fact that we’re talking about campaign finance violations here, it’s not murder or anything like that,” he said.

“This is new territory,” he added.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Waco Regional Airport ((Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images))

Andrew McCarthy, a former US assistant attorney, made a similar statement when speaking to Fox Business’s Neil Cavuto.

“Anyone who tells you they know what would happen is either delusional or lying,” McCarthy said. “We’ve never had a situation like this before. I don’t think the Framers ever considered that such a situation could exist. I think part of the reason they designed the electoral college was to make sure something like this didn’t happen. But you know, here we are.”

TRUMP CALLS MANHATTAN DA PROVING HIM A ‘RAZIST IN REVERSE’

Shapiro warned that impeachment could boost Trump’s popularity and make him a “martyr.”

“I mean, impeachment against Trump only benefits Alvin Bragg, raising his profile and Donald Trump – it cements his support and makes him a martyr,” Shapiro said. “I agree with the statement made by DeSantis and some others – it is politically charged. While the allegations are entirely true, no one applauds that type of behavior, but so many years later, when you follow this thorny campaign finance breach – there are none up here for the American people.”

DeSantis, who is widely expected to launch a White House bid later this year but has yet to formally announce it, previously criticized Bragg over the potential indictment, accusing him of “pursuing a political agenda and arming the office.” “.

But the governor also stressed, “I don’t know what it means to pay a porn star hush money to keep quiet about any kind of alleged affair. I can not say anything about this.”

Archive photos of former President Donald Trump (left) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Scott Eisen, Spencer Platt)

Even the average New York crime case can take six months to more than a year to go from indictment to trial, meaning it could coincide with the 2024 presidential election and even the next presidency.

As president, Trump would not have the constitutional authority to pardon himself from state charges. However, Congress could proceed with an impeachment trial or attempt to remove him from office via the 25th Amendment.

Trump declared himself the “most innocent man in our country’s history” at a rally in Waco, Texas earlier this month.

“The District Attorney of New York, under the auspices and direction of the Department of Injustice in Washington, DC, is investigating me for something that is not a felony, not a misdemeanor, not an affair,” Trump told the crowd.

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