DOJ Expected To Charge Trump ‘Within A Month’ He Could Get Convicted During Campaign

Similarities between Donald Trump and his karmic twin, Al Capone, continue to abound. Both of them were Teflon, nobody could make anything stick, despite being guilty as hell and everybody knows it. Another similarity is that it will be something else besides Trump’s worse misdeeds which will end up destroying him, as happened to Capone.

In Capone’s case, he got away with the murders he most assuredly committed, but he was convicted of tax evasion. In Trump’s case, while his list of crimes could and should reasonably include treason, sedition, incitement, attempt to overthrow the United States government via the fake elector scheme, etc., what will hang him is simply holding onto classified documents, stashed in the Mar-a-Lago pool house and other places.

The reason is straightforward. While fraud, obstruction, all that depend upon the person’s intent, the simple fact of Trump hanging onto the documents in his possession, even after he received a grand jury subpoena and the FBI showed up on his doorstep, makes a fairly easy case for the DOJ. Preet Bharara addressed this issue today on one of the Sunday political shows.

You’ll note that he said within a month. That comports with the opinion of former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti, who thought that after the Georgia runoff, things would start moving.

Now what is that going to look like, the prosecution of a former president, who has just thrown his hat in the ring for the third time? Think about this, we could be looking at a situation where Trump is simultaneously running for president, attending rallies, fundraisers, all of that, while also attending depositions, or testifying personally in court. That’s going to be one for the books.

And feature this: There is nothing in the Constitution that says that a candidate has to have a clean criminal record, so even if convicted, Trump could presumably assume office, if elected. Is your head ready to explode? This is how Mariotti explained it.

After an indictment, the process would slow down.

Typically defense counsel get months to review evidence, and in a case involving so many classified documents, that could be a slow process. The defense will file motions, which the judge could take months to consider. Trial would likely be 12 to 24 months away, in other words a range that would cover the entirety of the election year.

Although Trump has a right to a speedy trial — a trial in 70 days or less from indictment — most criminal defendants waive that right and drag out the process. When I was a federal prosecutor, some defendants created enough delay to drag the process out for years before trial. Given the circumstances, however, I think most judges would likely ensure that a trial was scheduled well before the end of Biden’s term to reduce the impact that a criminal trial would have on the 2024 election.

And what if Trump’s convicted? What then?

Trump would not be sentenced until months after his conviction and could potentially remain out of prison pending appeal. But a conviction or even imprisonment would not bar Trump from running for president. The Constitution sets the requirements for presidential candidates, and a clean criminal history is not one of them.

Some have wondered if a convicted but still unsentenced Trump could be inaugurated and assume control of the Oval Office. While presumably that could occur, the imposition of a sentence of imprisonment on a sitting president is almost too bizarre to even contemplate and would certainly raise constitutional issues that the Supreme Court would ultimately resolve.

Trump’s personally stacked with right-wing judges Supreme Court, that is. It’s all too weird to contemplate. Maybe it’s time for an amendment to the constitution that anybody convicted of a felony can’t run for president. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry that the issue has even come up.

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