Trump said the president under indictment would create a constitutional crisis | Donald Trump

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The election of a president under indictment and facing criminal trial would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis and undermine government operations, Donald Trump said.

But the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, who faces 71 criminal counts in state and federal cases and is expected to face more, is not talking about himself or speaking this year.

As reported by CNN, which discovered the comments, Trump was speaking on 3 November 2016, at a rally in North Carolina during his first presidential campaign, against Hillary Clinton.

“He’s probably going to be under investigation for years,” Trump said, “and it’s probably going to end in my opinion in a criminal trial.” I mean, look at it. Who knows? But it sure looks that way.

Clinton has not faced indictment or a criminal trial over her use of a private email server while Barack Obama’s secretary of state. An FBI investigation proved politically damaging, in a campaign Trump won.

Seven years later, Trump became the first former president to be impeached and he has been impeached twice.

In New York, he faces 34 counts of hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels during that 2016 race. In a federal investigation, he faces 37 counts related to his retention of classified material after leaving the White House in 2021.

In New York, his trial is scheduled to begin in late March. In the federal case, a Florida judge said a trial could begin as soon as August 14.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and continues to deny all accusations of wrongdoing.

More indictments are expected, not least in state and federal investigations into Trump’s attempts to reverse his defeat by Joe Biden in 2020, culminating in his instigation of the deadly attack on Congress on January 6, 2021 .

Before he became president, in Concord, North Carolina, in November 2016, Trump also said that Clinton had no right to run, you know that. Unprivileged.

He returned to the topic two days later, CNN reported, telling a crowd in Reno, Nevada: We could have a sitting president under felony indictment and ultimately a criminal trial. It will stop the government.

That same day, CNN said, Trump told rally-goers in Denver, Colorado, that because Clinton was the prime suspect in a massive criminal investigation, it would be nearly impossible for her to govern.

In 2023, Trump’s legal problems didn’t stop his campaign, or even slow it down significantly.

He leads the polling averages, leading his nearest challenger, Ron DeSantis, by about 30 points. Florida’s governor is well ahead of the rest of the field.

Trump did not immediately respond to CNN’s report about his comments about Clinton.

He continues to complain that Clinton has not been indicted, alleging investigative bias and a political witch hunt against him.

Responding to such complaints, Joe Conason, a reporter, commentator and biographer of Clinton’s husband, former president Bill Clinton, wrote: Contrary to Trumps lying mantra, Hillary Clinton did not hide classified documents , did not object to subpoenas, engaged in no conspiracy, and stole nothing. . So unlike him she is innocent of wrongdoing.

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