Trump’s indictment could give him another dubious first — running the White House from prison

The former president was the first incumbent of the White House to be impeached twice — could he become, asks Sean O’Grady, the first to run the country from prison?

Will Trump be the first convicted felon to run for the White House or even to be president from a jail cell? (EPA)

Soon Donald Trump will visit a court in Miami, and become the first president or former president to be arraigned on federal criminal charges. An historic moment, obviously, and not in a good way.

Though proud Americans rightly resent foreigners sneering at their nation, they should understand, respectfully, that the rest of the world frets at what happens in the US precisely because it has done so much for humanity and remains the last great hope for freedom and democracy. Just ask the Ukrainians. It’s not great to see a former president being accused of being careless with security secrets. But we are where we are, as they say.

No less than 37 charges have been levelled at Trump, including under the Espionage Act. The evidence assembled by the US Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith is formidable, detailed and clearly laid out. In such a case you’d expect extra-special care to be taken, and so it has transpired. As Trump might say, it’s a hell of a rap sheet. One assumes that Smith knew Trump would try to discredit the entire process as a vast conspiracy fuelled by lies, and thus he has produced a wealth of eye witness, documentary and photographic material to stand the case up.

On the other side of this case, by contrast, we find that Trump is not well-equipped to defend himself (legally speaking; his fantasy-filled political rants are a different matter). Reports say he will be represented by two of his existing lawyers, because he can’t find a suitable local adviser in Florida willing to join his legal defence team.

Trump has also apparently been having trouble recruiting a specialist security lawyer, one with the necessary security clearance, to tackle the alleged Espionage Act crimes. We read that his difficulties arise from the fact that Trump is notoriously difficult, ignores advice, fires at will (in all senses) and regards his lawyers as no more or less than attack dogs and comms advisers. His personal attorney for a time, Rudy Giuliani, is the exemplar of a Trump legal aide, for better or worse. It comes to something when working for a former president is regarded as a substantial reputational risk.

On the plus side, from his point of view, Trump is no stranger to litigation and the like. Maybe he is right that creating a climate of hate towards the judiciary will intimidate those involved into going easy on him. Hence the MAGA mobs. He’s been in courtrooms more times than any other president already, even if we discount his extensive history of legal battles over the course of his business and marital life.

Only last month a jury in New York jury found that Trump had sexually abused a journalist, columnist E Jean Carroll in a store changing room 27 years ago. That, shamefully, marked the first time an American court legally labelled a former US president as a sexual predator. Another unwelcome precedent. As it was a civil case, there was no question of Trump suffering jail time; the penalty is a fine and further damage to his reputation, for whatever that’s worth.

During his tumultuous one-term presidency, Donald Trump set many more dubious “firsts”. He was the first president to enter the White House with no legislative, military executive political experience whatsoever (which might have become a strength, but didn’t). He was not the first to be impeached, but the first to be impeached twice. He’s the first – grimly absurd as it seems – to encourage an insurrection. And so on. The question now is will he be the first convicted felon to run for the White House or even to be president from a jail cell – scenarios now openly if nervously contemplated. Will this Trump madness ever end?