Could probe against Donald Trump disqualify him from running for US president in 2024?

The FBI’s raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club has raised a flurry of questions about his political future including the big one – will he run again? Though the former US president is entangled in an FBI probe related to sensitive government documents, no one whether the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence is a sign of things to come and that criminal charges will indeed be laid against him. Let’s take a closer look at what a possible probe against Donald Trump heading into the 2024 election could mean: First, the good news. A probe against an individual isn’t enough to disqualify him or her from running for president – see 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton then under investigation by the FBI over mishandling classified information. The FBI ultimately decided against charging Clinton, though some contend the mere act of reopening the case so close to the election swung the ballgame in favour of candidate Trump. But would things have been different if Clinton had been charged and convicted? If Trump is charged and convicted? Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that Trump is convicted of mishandling classified documents. The US Constitution spells out just three requirements to be president:

• Be a natural-born citizen of the United States
• Be at least 35 years old
• Have been a resident of the United States for 14 years

So far, so good for Trump – nothing about criminal convictions. Little known law stokes intrigue However, one little-known law could upset everything –  Section 2071 of Title 18 of the United States Code As per BBC, the law says anyone with custody of government documents who “willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates or destroys… any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited … in any public office” can be fined or imprisoned for up to three years. More importantly, it says anyone convicted under that law shall “be disqualified from holding” federal office. Democratic attorney Marc Elias , bringing attention to the law on Twitter, said it would be a “blockbuster in American politics” to see a presidential candidate litigating the matter. “That’s a real law, and if Donald Trump violated that law … that has real penalties, including the fact that he may never be able to serve in federal office ever again,” presidential historian Michael Beschloss told MSNBC. Experts say not so fast However, others disagree including Elias himself who in a follow-up tweet said he recognised the “legal challenge that application of this law to a president would garner.” “The law would not pass muster under any sort of constitutional review,” Brian Kalt, a constitutional law professor at Michigan State University, told BBC. “The fundamental principle of constitutional law is that the Constitution is supreme, and any law that conflicts with the Constitution is void,” he added. Legal and constitutional experts told the BBC there is no general prohibition against convicted criminals running for president –  citing the example of George W Bush who with a drink-driving conviction served two terms as president. [caption id=“attachment_9806901” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  File image of George W Bush.[/caption] A slew of experts speaking to USA Today cast doubt over whether even a conviction under this law could bar Trump from the presidency. UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh said he was “pretty confident” the law would not hold up to a legal challenge over disqualifying Trump for the presidency. George Washington University law professor Randall Eliason added, “I don’t know that we know for certain. I don’t think it’s been decided. But I think there’s a real doubt that the disqualification provision would apply to the office of the presidency.” There was one sure-fire way to bar Trump from ever running for office again. The US Constitution gave the Senate the power to convict him in either of his impeachments trials and remove him from office, and then further permanently disqualify him from holding “any office of honour, trust or profit under the United States.” That, of course, didn’t happen. Now, there’s nothing to do but to wait till 2024 and see how things play out. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.