Democracy & Elections

The Lawfare Podcast: A Criminal in the White House: How It Might Work and What It Might Mean

Benjamin Wittes, Scott R. Anderson, Jen Patja
Thursday, November 2, 2023, 8:00 AM
 What would happen if Donald Trump both got convicted and got elected?

Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
Brookings

A few weeks ago, an organization that works in the democracy protection space asked Lawfare Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Wittes and Lawfare Senior Editor Scott R. Anderson to give a talk about what would happen if Donald Trump both got convicted and got elected. And for this episode of the Lawfare Podcast, we’ve reprised that conversation, with an accompanying YouTube version including their PowerPoint presentation.

Ben and Scott talked about what could happen if a president gets convicted and then gets elected, including how the system might respond if it’s a federal case, if it’s a state case, if the case is pending, and if the case is already wrapped up.


Benjamin Wittes is editor in chief of Lawfare and a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of several books.
Scott R. Anderson is a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and a Senior Fellow in the National Security Law Program at Columbia Law School. He previously served as an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State and as the legal advisor for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.
Jen Patja is the editor and producer of The Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security. She currently serves as the Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics, a nonprofit organization that empowers the next generation of leaders in Virginia by promoting constitutional literacy, critical thinking, and civic engagement. She is the former Deputy Director of the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier and has been a freelance editor for over 20 years.

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