Trump’s wild card
1 min read . Updated: 02 Apr 2023, 11:24 PM IST
PremiumFormer US President Donald Trump faces criminal charges for allegedly paying hush money to Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign. The case could be an election-law violation, but even a guilty verdict would not bar him from running for president in 2024.
It’s the first time a former US president has faced criminal charges. America had listed human equality as a self-evident truth in its declaration of independence in 1776, and Donald Trump is clearly not above the law. Legally, the case isn’t open and shut. During his 2016 run for the White House, he allegedly paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 as hush money to keep quiet about a 2006 affair. She did not, opting to go public later. The ethics of it won’t be under trial. The illegality involved, if any, could be an election-law violation for Trump’s failure to declare what may amount to a campaign self-donation. The Trump Organization recorded the payment as a legal expense, but this would be just a misdemeanour and not a criminal offence. Even a guilty verdict would not bar him from joining the US presidential race underway. In fact, the spotlight he’s got might actually help him win the Republican nomination for 2024 on sympathy. Trump’s return to power is a possibility, an outcome that Russia and China are seen to favour, given President Joe Biden’s global democracy-versus-autocracy formulation. India is neutral but also a keen watcher of the power matrix as its shifts.