(RightWing.org) – Last week, Donald Trump became the first former president in US history to face indictment on criminal charges. Many conservatives believe this is a politically-driven prosecution to knock him out of next year’s presidential race. If that’s the Democrats’ plan, Trump isn’t planning to cooperate.
On June 8, the Department of Justice indicted Trump on 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information and six more charges over alleged attempts to hide the fact he had them. Now many Democrats — and even one Republican presidential candidate — are pushing the former POTUS to wind up his campaign and withdraw from the race.
So far, Trump is ignoring these calls. In fact, far from planning to withdraw because of the indictment, he insists that he’ll continue his campaign even if he’s convicted. In a defiant talk with reporters, he said, “I’ll never leave… if I would have left, I would have left prior to the original race in 2016.” He added that the 2016 campaign was “a rough one. In theory that was not doable.”
If a court convicts Trump on any of the charges, there’s still no legal obstacle to him running for election as president. Theoretically, he could continue his campaign even from jail, although there would be practical difficulties.
And, of course, if he wins the election, he could immediately pardon himself after his inauguration and get out of prison. Trump doesn’t see a self-pardon in his future, though. He doesn’t believe a court will convict him and insists he hasn’t done anything wrong.
In addition to the new federal charges, New York Attorney General Alvin Bragg (D) indicted Trump in March on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The former president isn’t letting his legal troubles get him down, though. Although he admits he doesn’t like being indicted, he’s dismissing it as political. So far, it isn’t getting in the way of his political ambitions, and his supporters don’t seem deterred either.
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