In wake of the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence that resulted in the retrieval of many boxes of “classified” documents many people in the country who are anti-Trump hope to see some legal action taken by the Justice Department against the 45th President of the United States.
Fortunately for Trump it is unlikely that courts will be able to charge him prior to midterm elections due to a “60 day rule” held in Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Justice Department.
Although not an official rule, the “60 day rule” is a tradition in the DOJ and FBI to not do anything 60 days prior to an election as not to affect the integrity of voters and the election itself.
November midterms are now less than 60 days away therefore if the DOJ and FBI are to stick to their long standing tradition, they will not be able to charge the former President until after results are released.
But like in baseball this rule is unwritten. Meaning the DOJ and FBI could indeed charge Trump if they truly wanted to.
A Harvard Law School professor and former head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, Jack Goldsmith, detailed that the 60 day rule is an “unwritten rule of uncertain scope” that is “not at all clear that it applies to taking investigative steps against a noncandidate former president who is nevertheless intimately involved in the November election.”
Newsweek reported on the effect charges on Trump could have across the country.
While Trump is not on any ballot, his influence will be noticeable nationwide in November as dozens of his endorsed candidates hope to carry on his MAGA agenda in Congress.
Trump is potentially facing a number of charges in connection to investigations into the January 6 attack, as well as the FBI probe into claims he mishandled classified documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago resort, and then attempts to obstruct the federal investigation.
Trump has called all investigations into him politically motivated.
Neither the DOJ nor Attorney General Merrick Garland have given any real indication in whether they will take the unprecedented steps to make Trump the first U.S. president to be charged with a crime.
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