Trump

Law professor points out exactly why Trump is 'disqualified' from being president again

Trump

Law professor points out exactly why Trump is 'disqualified' from being president again

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After Trump faced his fourth criminal charge last week in Georgia, which resulted in his already infamous mugshot, many have been wondering what it will take to disqualify the former president from being elected again.

Harvard constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe declared that the Constitution “couldn’t be clearer” as he highlights what “disqualified” Trump from becoming president again.

In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Friday, Tribe cited Section Three of the 14th Amendment which states that a person is barred from holding office in the federal government if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

“You are disqualified, period, so all of the charges against the president which at the moment don’t happen to include insurrection are really beside the point,” said Tribe. He likened the “disqualification” to those on presidential term limits, the age limit for the office and whether someone is a natural born citizen.

Conservative law professors have referred to Section Three of the 14th Amendment when discussing Trump’s eligibility for the Oval Office. During the first Republican debate last week, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said that Trump was “disqualified.”

Tribe discussed the possibility of secretaries of state potentially setting up a way to determine if Trump gave “aid or comfort” to the Constitution’s enemies before he highlighted the former president’ consideration of giving “full pardons” to January 6 defendants.

“When he said he was going to pardon the ones who breached the Capitol and who had Confederate flags in there and caused mayhem and even death, that sure sounds like giving aid or comfort to the enemies of the Constitution,” he told Blitzer.

Tribe was then asked if the call on Trump’s ineligibility for office is “subjective” in nature.

Blitzer asked: “Are you concerned this could potentially be abused down the road?”

“It’s certainly problematic but that’s why the framers of the 14th Amendment put in a safeguard. They said, if it’s abused, all you need is two-thirds of each house [of Congress] in order to remove a disability, a disqualification,” Tribe responded.

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