WASHINGTON − Before Donald Trump was the first former president and presumptive major party nominee to be convicted of a crime, he argued that a candidate who faced possible indictment shouldn’t be allowed to run for president.
The year was 2016 and Trump, then the Republican nominee, was trying to capitalize on a Department of Justice investigation of his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. If Clinton were charged criminally and became president, he warned, it would “create an unprecedented constitutional crisis” and “grind government to a halt.”
“Folks, folks, folks, she shouldn’t be allowed to run. Okay?” Trump told one raucous crowd of rallygoers at a Nov. 5, 2016 speech in Reno, Nevada, pausing for emphasis on each word. He made similar comments at other rallies, including the day before in Concord, N.C.
Trump is now campaigning for president after losing one criminal case and still facing three others. A Manhattan jury unanimously convicted Trump last Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying business records by disguising as legal expenses reimbursements to his lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
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