Why Trump’s charges ‘will almost certainly be dropped’ if he wins 2024 election
Charges against Donald Trump ‘will almost certainly be dropped’ if he were to win the 2024 election, an expert has warned.
The former US president was hit with fresh criminal charges yesterday in relation to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
These include conspiracy to defraud the US government, violate rights and obstruct official proceedings.
The indictment said Trump was ‘determined to stay in power’ and ‘spread lies’ about voter fraud to ‘change electoral votes’.
This means he will now be arrested by the FBI as part of their investigation into the January 6 Capitol Riots.
But the investigation and trial may be stopped completely if Trump were to be selected as Republican presidential nominee, and win the 2024 election.
Dr Thomas Gift, associate professor of political science and director of the Centre on US Politics at University College London, said Trump will be able to appoint a new attorney general if he were to be elected president for a second time.
‘If Trump wins the election he will pull the plug, because he can appoint the attorney general he wants,’ the academic told Metro.
‘The attorney general can then put a stop to the proceedings, finishing the entire investigation.’
And this is not unlikely, as a poll by the New York Times has revealed Trump is currently the front-runner to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.
The best legal tactic the 77-year-old and his team can then take is to drag proceedings out as much as possible.
Dr Gift continued: ‘At the moment the timeline is very indeterminate. But the most likely tactic by the Trump campaign will be to delay and delay as much as possible.
‘I can see it being dragged out to the 2024 election, and it’s likely we will see Trump sat in court ahead of the vote count.’
Trump’s catalogue of indictment and charges which have been brought against over the last year will also have ‘little impact on the voters’.
In June he was indicted over his alleged mishandling of classified documents he took from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago home.
He was also criminally charged by a Manhattan district attorney in April in an investigation into a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
But these are only helping to ‘fuel his narrative’ and ‘rally Republican voters’.
Dr Gift added: ‘Every indictment helps raise funds and helps Trump in the polls.
‘Trump’s team have very predictably framed these latest charges as a witch hunt. He is trying to make the case they are out to get him because he is the most likely nominee to beat Biden .
‘Voters know what they are getting with Trump, and none of this information will be new – they have already made up their minds.’
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