A Conviction for Trump Creates Possible Disqualification as President

The jury in Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York is expected to decide his guilt or innocence by the end of next week.

A guilty verdict would not only cast his campaign into disarray but also create a legal quagmire over what kinds of conduct could disqualify a candidate from the presidency.

Technically, he could become president even if he is convicted on all 34 felony counts he faces of falsifying business records.

The Constitution allows anyone who is a natural born citizen at least 35 years old and a resident of the United States for the past 14 years to run for president.

However, Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution gives states discretion over “the times, places and manner of holding elections.”

Most states have interpreted their authority over elections to determine restrictions on holding public office.

For Trump, the restrictions could require a pardon from the governor of each state before he could run for office there.

Other states have varying time periods after criminal conviction before an ex-con can run for office.

Convicted felons have run for president twice in U.S. history but both were inconsequential candidates who had minimal chance of winning anything.

Trump is the presumed Republican candidate for president and the leader to win the election in some polls.?

The most likely scenario is another round of litigation to decide his eligibility if Trump is convicted, according to election law attorneys.

Trump’s attorneys ended their criminal defense of the former president Tuesday with a problematic effort to undercut the credibility of the prosecution’s star witness.

The last witness was Robert Costello, a former legal advisor to Michael Cohen, who was Trump’s personal attorney and now his main accuser.

Costello’s testimony was only a marginal benefit to the defense. Some of it supported the prosecution’s case.

His contentious personal behavior Monday afternoon led the judge to clear the courtroom to warn Costello about being too belligerent.

“Ridiculous,” Costello said after listening to the judge’s ruling on a prosecution objection to his testimony. “Jeez,” he said on another occasion.

He said in his testimony that Cohen had told him he acted alone in paying hush money to two women who say Trump had sex with them. Costello quoted Cohen as saying Trump could not be blamed for any business records that sought to hide the payments.

To the defense team’s benefit, Costello described much of Cohen’s testimony as reflecting deceit.

When prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked whether he held animosity toward Cohen, Costello replied, "I don’t have animosity. I don’t think Michael Cohen is telling the truth."

"Yes or no?" Hoffinger asked.

"No," Costello said.

Several legal analysts interviewed on televised reports of the trial said the defense team made a mistake in calling Costello as a witness.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.