[Platapus]

Of course, processes for dealing with a convicted felon president are, literally, unprecedented. Since this has not come up before, there are few case studies that can serve as a guide. Laws have not been written specifically addressing presidential felons.


Most of the rules and such deal with members of congress. It would be a safe assumption, but still an assumption, that the rules would not be more restrictive for an elected president.



What we do know


1. There is no prohibition on someone running for President nor being elected if they are a felon. It is left up to the people. Bottom line, if the people want to elect Trump, he will be elected.





2. If he is elected president, the official action would be that his sentence would be held "in abeyance", which is a legal term for temporarily suspended.



3. No state charges or action can interfere with the elected president from performing his duties while in office.



4. Regardless of any court action concerning handling of classified information, by the virtue of being elected by the people, a president would have the same security accesses that other presidents have.


When it comes to presidents, the intent was that the people can be trusted to vote for the right person (stop laughing!!)



As an aside, odds are that Trump will be able to vote in November.


He is a resident of Florida and Florida law states that a convicted felon in another state will have the same voting restrictions as the felon would have in the state of conviction.



In New York, a felon is only disenfranchised if they are sent to prison and that disenfranchisement ends when they leave prison. A felon in NY who is given a suspended sentence, or no prison time can still vote in NY and therefore, can vote in Florida.



Will Trump get prison time? Unknown


Normally first offenders for these sets of crimes are not given a prison term. However, the number of convictions (34) counts against him. Also judges are influenced by the convict's conduct and whether they accept responsibilities. Trump's conduct may count against him. Claiming that the judicial system and court are corrupt is not helping him.



I think it is extremely doubtful that he will serve any years in prison. It is possible that he may be given a token "one day and one hour" sentence to serve as an example.


But like everything connected with this and other upcoming cases, we are in unprecedented territory.



People can opine on what can or can not happen, but I don't think anyone is in a position to credibly predict what will happen.



We live in interesting times.