While President Trump refuses to concede he has lost the election to Joe Biden and continues to claim he was the victim of massive voter fraud, it is a foregone conclusion that on December 14 the electoral college will elect the White Obama president.
Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz believes Trump is challenging Biden in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan and Arizona in a bid to keep Biden from getting the 270 electoral college votes he needs to be declared president. Dershowitz says keeping Biden from 270 would put the election on the House delegations – a state-by-state majority held by Republicans 26-23-1 – as designated by the constitution. However, legal experts do not believe Trump can make this happen.
Reports are circulating that in private Trump has admitted he is a dead duck and that he intends to run for president again in 2024.
But instead of running for president, Trump may be facing jail time instead.
Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance has been conducting a criminal probe into hush money payoffs made by Trump to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, as well as matters concerning his business affairs and taxes. Trump or his companies have been accused of overstating the value of his assets when dealing with potential business partners and lenders while minimizing the value of those same assets for tax purposes.
Vance subpoenaed eight years’ worth of Trump’s tax returns. Trump’s lawyers and the Justice Department challenged the subpoena, claiming that as a sitting president, he could not be criminally investigated. But in July, the Supreme Court ruled the president is not entitled to the broad immunity claimed by his lawyers and the DOJ. Then in a 3-0 decision last month, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan rejected Trump’s claims that the subpoena was overly broad and amounted to political harassment by the Democratic DA. Trump is appealing that ruling to the Supreme court.
Trump is right. Of course it’s political harassment by a Democratic DA out to get the hated Republican president. Had the Hildebeast won the presidency in 2016, Vance would never have looked into Trump’s dalliances or business affairs. But that doesn’t really matter if Trump did actually commit any crimes.
The Justice Department has held for decades that a sitting president is “constitutionally immune” from indictment and criminal prosecution. If Vance has a strong case, he must be holding off on obtaining an indictment until Trump is out of office.
On January 20, Trump will no longer be the sitting president and he will no longer be entitled to any protection he is provided by holding that office. So, instead of running again for president, Trump could be facing some jail time instead.