Donald Trump recent entry into the 2024 presidential race has complicated federal prosecutors' efforts to shield their investigations of the former president from accusations of being politically motivated, Bloomberg reports.
While the Justice Department doesn't plan to end their investigations into Trump, the fact that he's running for president will force them to take extra procedural steps and will also be expected to finish things up before voters go to the polls. If he's ever indicted. Trump will be the first former president charged with a federal crime.
According to former US Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara McQuade, Trump's 2024 candidacy gives him "the ability to portray himself as a victim if he’s indicted in the coming months."
“He can point to that sequence of events as cause and effect and say it’s an effort to undermine his candidacy," McQuade said.
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The investigations include Trump alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House, as well as his efforts to invalidated the 2020 election's results. If he's convicted on some of the charges, it could render him ineligible to run for president, although that potential development would likely be challenged in court.
“I doubt that Trump’s announcement of his candidacy alone would have any material impact on the continued forward progress of the department’s prosecution, or any decision to charge Trump,” said David Laufman, a former senior Justice Department national security official.
Read the full report over at Bloomberg.
