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Donald Trump's potential indictment and its national implications

A video of former President Donald Trump is shown on a screen, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its final meeting on Capitol Hill on Dec. 19. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
A video of former President Donald Trump is shown on a screen, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its final meeting on Capitol Hill on Dec. 19. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

For the first time ever, a former American president could face criminal indictment.

Some say being indicted can only hurt Trump’s presidential campaign; others aren’t so sure.

“This is something he’ll be able to use to galvanize support,” Doug Heye said on PBS NewsHour. ‘The system is rigged. It’s rigged against you. It’s rigged against me.’ So he’s consistent here, and that’s why it’ll help him short term.”

Today, On Point: The legal and political fallout of the possible indictment of Donald Trump.

Guest

Ryan Goodman, professor of law and co-director of the Reiss Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law. Co-editor-in-chief at Just Security. Former special counsel to the general counsel of the Department of Defense. (@rgoodlaw)

Jack BeattyOn Point news analyst. Author of the Age of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America and editor of Colossus: How the Corporation Changed America. (@JackBeattyNPR)

Andrea Bernstein, journalist covering Trump legal cases for NPR. Member of ProPublica’s democracy team. Author of American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power. Co-hosted the podcasts Will Be Wild and Trump, Inc. (@AndreaBNYC)

Geoff Kabaservice, vice president of political studies at Niskanen Center, a center-right think tank in Washington. (@RuleandRuin)

Related Reading

New York Times: “Make No Mistake, the Investigation of Donald Trump and the Stormy Daniels Scheme Is Serious” — “Though it may be tempting to do so, it is a mistake to assess the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation of Donald Trump by comparing its relative severity with those of myriad other crimes possibly committed by him. That is not how state and federal prosecutors will — or should — be thinking about the issue of charging Mr. Trump or, for that matter, any other defendant.”

Just Security: “Survey of Past New York Felony Prosecutions for Falsifying Business Records” — “A core crime that the Manhattan District Attorney will likely include in an indictment of former President Donald Trump is ‘falsifying business records in the first degree,’ a felony under New York State law (N.Y. Penal Code § 175.10). Prosecutors and indeed all of us are compelled by the rule of law to consider how such a charge compares to past prosecutions. Are like cases being treated alike?”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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