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Saturday, March 18, 2023

The Indictment of Donald Trump

Gerard N. Magliocca

Everyone is assuming that Donald Trump will be indicted in New York next week. I am on record saying that prosecuting Trump is a terrible mistake. Nevertheless, there are two implications of that decision that I want to highlight.

First, a New York indictment makes a Georgia indictment more likely, even though the two cases are very different. Being the first prosecutor to indict an ex-President is daunting. Being the second one to do so . . . not so much. 

Second, a New York indictment makes the legal effort to disqualify Trump from the presidential ballot more credible. Strictly speaking, of course, the New York indictment is irrelevant to the issue of whether Trump violated Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment on January 6th, 2021. But election officials and at least some judges will probably think about that question differently if Trump is under indictment. And especially so if he ends up under two indictments.  



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