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Can Donald Trump still be president after being convicted in hush money trial?

Donald Trump has been found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records and will be sentenced in the coming weeks.

Friday 31 May 2024 10:08, UK

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Donald Trump has become the first former US president to be criminally convicted - but what could the historic verdict mean for his ongoing election campaign?

A jury in New York deliberated for nine-and-a-half hours before unanimously agreeing Trump is guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to commit election fraud.

The former president covered up a $130,000 (£102,000) payment to porn star Stormy Daniels as part of a "hush money" scheme to bury stories he thought might hurt his presidential campaign in 2016.

With the hush money verdict in, Sky News takes a look at what could happen to Trump's quest for reelection now he's been convicted.

Can Trump still run for president?

Yes. The US Constitution sets out three main requirements for being eligible to become president - and none of them reference being a convicted criminal.

Candidates must have been born in the US, be over 35, and have lived in the US for at least 14 years.

"Nothing prevents him from running for president and being elected, even if he is in jail at the time of the election," Elizabeth Wydra, president of the progressive Constitutional Accountability Centre, told the LA Times.

That's despite people with a felony conviction - a crime that can be punished by a year or more in prison - not being allowed to vote in some states.

But what if he were to be elected while in prison?

This is a little more complicated, firstly because it's not clear if Trump will be sent to prison following the guilty verdict.

The convictions are class E felonies in New York, the lowest tier in the state, with each carrying a maximum sentence of four years.

In choosing the sentence, the judge will have to take into account Trump's age - he's now 77 - his lack of previous criminal convictions, and the fact that the case involves a non-violent crime.

Even if the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, opts for a custodial sentence, it's likely Trump will appeal the guilty verdict - and expect to be on bail until that hearing.

That process could go all the way to the Court of Appeals, and, importantly for Trump, could drag on for months - possibly even past November's election.

If Trump were to be elected while serving time, the situation becomes more complicated still, with even constitutional experts unsure.

"It's just guessing," Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law expert at the University of California, Berkeley, told the New York Times earlier this year.

"We're so far removed from anything that's ever happened."

Could power transfer to the vice president?

In theory, experts say, there is nothing to stop Trump from taking office, even if he were to be behind bars.

There is a provision - the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution - which provides a process to transfer authority to the vice president if the president is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office".

However, that would require the approval of the vice president and members of Trump's cabinet - who will have been hand-picked by him and will no doubt be loyalists.

It is more likely, experts say, that Trump would look to sue for his release or seek a pardon to allow him to govern.

How will the guilty verdict impact the election?

Opinion polls carried out prior to Thursday's verdict suggested it could pose a significant political danger for Trump.

In an April poll, one in four Republicans said they would not vote for Trump if he was found guilty in a criminal trial.

In the same survey, 60% of independents said they would not vote for Trump if he was convicted of a crime.

What do the experts say about its potential impact?

Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster, said he doubted a quarter of Republicans would actually shun Trump - but he said even a small number being turned off by a guilty verdict could help Joe Biden in a close election.

He said the nature of the New York case, which was brought by a Democratic prosecutor and relies on untested legal strategies, would help Trump and fellow Republicans frame a guilty verdict as a political hit job.

"If I were trying to design a court case that would be easy for Republicans to dismiss as a partisan witch hunt, I would design exactly the case that's being brought in New York," he said.

Republican consultant Tricia McLaughlin said she thought a guilty verdict would have a psychological impact on Trump because he hates losing.

It would also likely mean financial resources are diverted to legal bills because he would almost certainly appeal, she added.

Analyst Bill Galston said he didn't expect a guilty verdict would have a significant impact on the presidential race.

"In the end, this amounts to lying about sex. I think the view probably of the majority of Americans is that everybody lies about sex," said Mr Galston, who has worked on Democratic presidential campaigns.

Have convicted criminals run for president before?

At least two candidates with criminal convictions have run for president in the past - although neither successfully.

Eugene Debs ran for president from prison in 1920, getting almost a million votes without ever hitting the campaign trail.

In 1992, Lyndon LaRouche also ran from behind bars while serving a 15-year sentence for mail fraud. He received about 26,000 votes.

More trials ahead

This case was the first of four criminal cases against Trump to go to trial, and marked the first time a former president has faced criminal charges.

It is unlikely the remaining three cases will go to trial before the November election.

Can Donald Trump still be president after being convicted in hush money trial?

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