Can Trump Still Run for President Even Though He’s Been Indicted?

Welp, it is a sad day for America. It is a sad day because a former President, Donald J. Trump, has been indicted in a Manhattan court. Listen, we are not saying whether they are true or not that’s not for us to say. But it is truly sad to look at the state of our nation when the former leader of the free world is indicted for one or multiple crimes. What a time to be alive, folks.

Despite that fact, this news was expected. There has been talk of Trump’s crimes since his initial run for president before he even was president. And now on March 30, Trump has officially been indicted.

With the 2024 election right around the corner, and with Trump leading in the polls for the Republican nomination, lots of people on both sides are wondering if this means that Trump can not run for president. Let’s find out together.

As stated above, on March 30, Trump was indicted by a grand jury. This alone makes him the first former president to ever be charged with a crime. While the contents of the indictment will remained sealed until the arraignment, which could happen as early as Tuesday per CBS, we do know that it involves “hush” money that was sent to Stormy Daniels in 2016 during Trump’s first run for president.

Trump is still currently being investigated for his supposed involvement in attempting to overturning the 2020 election, as well as classified documents that had been found at his home in Mar-a-Lago.

Never one to stay silent, Trump already released a statement:

“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history…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… I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden… we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

The full statement linked above also included more name calling about President Biden and even DA Alvin Bragg as well as slander against the Democratic party in general.

Yes, he can. An indictment, or even a criminal conviction, can’t prevent someone from running for president. New York Law School professor Anna G. Cominsky spoke with the Wall Street Journal and told them that, “There are actually not that many constitutional requirements to run for president… There is not an explicit prohibition in the Constitution in respect to having a pending indictment or even being convicted.”

While Trump may still be able to run, this definitely gives fuel to his opponents, both those on the left and the right, and maybe even fuel for his own candidacy. His supporters have proven that they will vote for him no matter what he does. After all, they are called “Always Trumpers” for a reason.