Former President Donald Trump, who was indicted on dozens of federal charges earlier this month, is running to become the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 2024 — despite insisting, in 2016, that people who have been indicted should be barred from running for president, as it would create an “unprecedented constitutional crisis.”
Trump’s comments, which were reported on years ago, were dug up this week by CNN’s KFile, less than one month after the Department of Justice filed 37 charges against him for improperly transporting White House documents to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, upon leaving office.
Days before Election Day 2016, Trump, as the Republican nominee for president, discussed at a number of campaign rallies how the FBI had briefly reopened an inquiry into the handling of emails on a private server by his Democratic opponent, Hilary Clinton. On November 6, the FBI reaffirmed previous conclusions about Clinton, saying that while her actions were problematic, they weren’t illegal or worth pursuing charges over.
In the run-up to that conclusion, however, Trump assumed that Clinton would be charged, and told his supporters that charges against a presidential candidate or potential president-elect would be harmful for the country.
“If she were to win, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis that would cripple the operations of our government,” Trump said at a rally on November 3, 2016, in Concord, North Carolina. “She is likely to be under investigation for many years.”
Trump also stated that Clinton “has no right to be running” based on the inquiry into her actions.
Days later, on November 5, in Reno, Nevada, Trump said that the potential of having a “sitting president under felony indictment” would “grind government to a halt.” On the same day in Denver, Colorado, Trump said that her impending indictment — which never came to fruition — would make it “virtually impossible for her to govern.”
Trump made similar comments on social media, tweeting on November 1 that Clinton “should not be allowed to run for president” based on the allegations. On November 2, he wrongly declared that Clinton was “guilty” and “cannot run” for president.
Trump, who is now a candidate for president in 2024, has been indicted with 37 federal felony counts, as well as 34 charges in the state of New York. Trump has denounced the charges against him as political and unfounded, although several legal analysts have concluded that the allegations against him by investigators are quite damning.
While the indictment charges against Trump don’t disqualify him from running for president in 2024, they will likely make his campaign more challenging, as they will be looming over him in the GOP primaries and potentially in the general election.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.