Congress cannot prohibit Trump from running for office
A key reason Democrats are hyper-focused on pursuing a second impeachment trial is to prevent Trump from being able to run for or hold public office again. However, Trump’s legal team blasted that argument in their defense memo. The team argues that because Trump is now a private citizen there is no way to prevent him from running for office. The Constitution allows the Senate to remove a person’s right to run for office only as a means of removing them from office. As Trump, is already out of office the argument is invalid.
The memo reads:
“This impeachment trial is being pursued solely to preclude Mr. Trump, a private citizen, from holding any future office. However, the Constitution does not provide for the impeachment of a private citizen who is not in office. Further, the Constitution only grants the Senate the additional power to remove a person’s right to run for office as part of the process of removal from office. When a person ceases to hold an office, he immediately becomes a private citizen, impervious to removal, and therefore to impeachment and trial by the Senate.”
