WASHINGTON — While power and ego are typically enough to drive most would-be presidents, Donald Trump could soon have a far more compelling motive to want his old job back: staying out of prison.
With a grand jury in Atlanta convening next month to focus on Trump’s attempted coercion of Georgia officials and federal prosecutors in Washington appearing to build a conspiracy case around the attempt to block the election certification on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump may have more reason than ever to seek the protection against prosecution enjoyed by an incumbent president.
“He views the office as a shield to protect himself,” said George Conway, an expert on the laws governing presidential exposure to legal challenges. He said that seeking the presidency to avoid jail, while brazen for most, for Trump would be the next logical step. “It’s sort of like a Ponzi scheme. You’ve got to keep going, otherwise it will collapse.”
Which means that a man who made history by openly soliciting and accepting help from a foreign adversary to win power, then a second time by trying to overthrow the American republic in order retain that power, could do so yet again by running for the presidency while under an active criminal prosecution.
“No qualification in the Constitution says that you’ve got to be unindicted,” said John Ryder, a former Republican National Committee member well versed in presidential nominating rules and laws.
Should Trump win, he would suddenly benefit from…
