Trump as POTUS from jail? Even Americans with 'regular jobs' held to higher standard: expert

11 April 2024

Former President Donald Trump is preparing for his first of four upcoming criminal trials next week, and a single conviction on any one of the 88 felony counts he's facing could mean the septuagenarian could feasibly spend the rest of his life in prison.

However, even being confined to a cell won't disqualify the former president from once again holding to the most powerful political office in the United States, according to various experts.

The Washington Post reported that Trump could very well become the first president to ever hold office from behind bars if he is convicted and still wins the election in November. The US Constitution only requires presidents be natural-born citizens who are 35 years of age and who have resided in the United states for at least 14 years. There is no language prohibiting a president from holding office while incarcerated.

Kimberly Wehle, who is a professor at the University of Baltimore law school, told the Post that the lack of language in the Constitution preventing presidents holding office from prison wasn't because the framers weren't in favor of it. Rather, she said that the authors of America's founding documents assumed no one who had been convicted of a serious crime worthy of imprisonment would be seen as politically viable by the electorate.

Wehle noted that a felony conviction is effectively an immediate disqualification for many jobs that have far less power than the presidency.

"Why are we as a country so allergic to the idea of ensuring that people who reach that unparalleled position of power are subject to the same considerations and requirements that many people under his chain of command, and who hold regular jobs, have to comply with?" Wehle said.

The only other presidential candidate to seek office while imprisoned was labor organizer Eugene V. Debs, who was running as a socialist in the 1920 election and won nearly one million votes. Debs was jailed for his opposition to the United States' participation in World War I, serving a 10-year sentence for sedition.

In many states, convicted felons are prohibited from even voting in elections. In an interview with the Post, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition executive director Desmond Meade noted the irony of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) of opposing restoring the voting rights of convicted felons who have served their time while still pledging to support Trump in November regardless of the outcome of his trials.

"[I]f you’re willing to support someone running for president who has a felony conviction, there should be no reason you don’t support someone who has a felony conviction from being able to vote for who they want as president," Meade said.

Even if Trump is convicted in any of the two cases he's facing in the federal courts, he could theoretically appoint an attorney general who would dismiss the DOJ's cases against him, or he could even issue a presidential pardon to himself. However, his prosecutions in New York and Georgia, if found guilty, would require a gubernatorial pardon if he hopes to skate accountability in those jurisdictions.

That could be a possibility in Georgia, which currently has a Republican governor. However, if he's convicted in his Manhattan trial, it's unlikely that Governor Kathy Hochul (D) would pardon Trump if Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg convicts him on any of the 34 felony counts Trump was initially indicted on.

Click here to read the Post's report in full (subscription required).

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