-Donald Trump indicted by a vote of a grand jury
in New York.
-This is the second time
former President Trump has been indicted.
-This is the third time.
-This is the fourth criminal indictment
of the former president in less than five months.
-As criminal charges against Donald Trump piled up,
questions over whether he's legally eligible to serve
rose to the surface.
Now, having been indicted for attempting
to illegally overturn the 2020 election results
and his engagement with the January 6th attack
on the Capitol,
legal scholars, members of Congress,
and even members of Trump's own political party
are questioning his eligibility.
-We've been saying all along
that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment
presents a clear and unequivocal statement
that anyone who has sworn an oath of office
who engaged in insurrection or rebellion,
having sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution
against enemies foreign and domestic,
can never serve again in federal or state office.
-I would say that there's probably going to be
some challenges under the 14th Amendment.
I am persuaded that it is another issue
that should keep him from the presidency,
that could keep him from the presidency.
-Constitutional qualifications to run for the president
are actually pretty simple.
As long as the person is a natural-born US citizen,
at least 35 years old, and has been a resident for 14 years,
they meet the criteria laid out in the Constitution.
So, constitutionally speaking,
Donald Trump fulfills the eligibility criteria,
and some more.
Being a one-term president,
he also meets the requirement stated in the 22nd Amendment
that bars presidents from holding office
for more than two terms.
But Trump's eligibility has gotten shaky
with his latest indictments,
because an insurrection is where the Constitution draws the line,
legal scholars say.
-Section 3 says that a person
who previously held a government office,
either state or federal, cannot hold one again if they,
quote, engaged in insurrection against the United States,
or they gave aid and comfort
to the enemies of the United States.
-Meaning, should he be convicted of insurrection-related charges,
Trump would, by that legal theory, be disqualified.
But legal experts say the issue of invoking the 14th Amendment
is not as clear-cut as it seems.
-It hasn't been litigated much in American history,
and there are many areas for debate.
The first is what does it mean to engage in insurrection.
President Trump hasn't, in fact,
been charged with engaging in insurrection.
Prosecutors decided not to charge him with that.
So, if the legal requirement is that you have to be charged
with engaging in insurrection,
then he would not qualify under this provision.
Another question is, is the amendment self-executing?
In other words, can any official decide
that someone engaged in an insurrection
against the United States,
or do you have to have a congressional determination
that they've so engaged, or a determination by a court?
-Despite these complexities, more and more legal experts
are reaching the conclusion that the 14th Amendment
does indeed apply to the former president.
-Yes, it does apply, and he should be barred.
-Some secretaries of state are already being urged
to invoke it, and it's possible, indeed, that they --
someone might decide to keep him off the ballot.
What courts will do after that is anyone's guess.
-I admit we don't have
any clear precedent on point on this.
There is a dispute about it, and certainly it is likely
this issue will end up in the courts.
-And even if the 14th Amendment does somehow end up
barring Trump from running again,
there still is a mechanism that could override that prohibition.
The same section of the Constitution states
that Congress could remove this disqualification
if two-thirds of the House and Senate
vote to reinstate him,
which seems unlikely in a closely divided Congress
in which his Democratic opponents control the Senate.
-He was acquitted by the Senate both times,
and therefore the issue of barring him
never actually came up.
But if Trump had been convicted
in one or both of his impeachments,
then there is a procedure laid out in Article 1
of the Constitution, which discusses impeachment,
under which he could be barred
from serving in federal office again.
-If Trump is convicted of a felony unrelated to the charges
related to January 6th's insurrection
or overturning the 2020 election results,
there is nothing in the Constitution
that legally prohibits him from running for president.
In this case, he will not be able to cast a vote
for a certain period of time
in almost everywhere in the country
because he would be a convicted felon,
but he would still be eligible to run for president.
Which raises the question --
Is Section 3 of the 14th Amendment
the only way Trump could get disqualified?
-I think it's at the very least the only likely way.
You can imagine him being impeached again and convicted
and then disqualified on that basis,
but that seems a very unlikely scenario.