Trump says he won’t drop out of 2024 race if convicted of crimes | National News
Former President Donald Trump will still run for president even if he is convicted of charges related to his role in paying hush money to a porn star, he said in an interview that aired Tuesday night.
Trump was indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last week 34 offenses for falsifying business records for his role in a broader catch-and-kill program to suppress negative stories about himself during the 2016 election. Trump is the first ex-president to be charged with a crime, and his indictment in lower Manhattan garnered widespread media coverage .
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has denounced the case against him as a politically motivated witch hunt. His trial is not expected to begin until 2024.
The former president has previously said he would continue his campaign if impeached. Now that the charges have been brought, he said in an interview with Fox News that he would not drop out of the presidential campaign even if convicted of a crime.
“No, I would never get out, that’s not my thing. I wouldn’t do it,” Trump said.
The constitution does not prohibit people convicted of a crime from running for president.
His comments came as part of a wide-ranging and rambling interview in which Trump made a series of eyebrow-raising claims.
The former president also said that staff at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse cried and apologized to him as they booked him before a judge before his arraignment.
“They would say ‘2024, sir, 2024,'” Trump claimed.
Cartoons about the Republican Party
Trump faces charges of illegally falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels made in 2016 through his former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen. The payment was an attempt to keep Daniels from going public about an extramarital affair she had with Trump a decade ago.
The hush money payment to Daniels is one of three notes prosecutors made when filing documents as part of a larger plan that included a payment to another woman who said she was having an affair with Trump, as well as money to a bouncer who falsely claimed , he has knowledge of a child Trump fathered out of wedlock.
Republicans have rallied behind Trump to criticize the allegations.
Polls show Trump could get one Boost from Republican voters in the wake of the impeachment – but a majority of Americans overall support the impeachment and believe Trump did something illegal.
