How will Trump verdict affect campaign? NU professor and Lincoln voters weigh in

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Former President Donald Trump was found guilty Thursday on all 34 counts of falsifying business records.

His hush money trial lasted seven weeks with 22 witnesses.

Trump denounced the verdict, calling it a “disgrace” and a “rigged trial” and promising to appeal.

But in the meantime, what does this mean for the former president’s 2024 presidential run?

Brandon Johnson, an assistant professor at the Nebraska College of Law, said Trump can still run, even if he is in prison.

But there may be restrictions on how he can campaign.

“A felony conviction wouldn’t disqualify someone from running for president under the constitution,” Johnson said. “Nor is it clear that even an incarceration would prevent a successful candidate from serving as president.”

That being said, if Trump were to win while in prison, the Cabinet could try to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.

“That requires the vice president and the Cabinet, or the 25th Amendment says Congress can create a special body to do this as well, but that has never happened,” Johnson said. “Still, if Congress creates this special body, the vice president has to agree as well.”

It’s a waiting game now, with the former president’s sentencing set for July 11, just four days before the Republican National Convention.

Channel 8 spoke with a few voters here in Lincoln about how they feel about the trial’s outcome.

Many said they don’t know enough about it to give a firm opinion.

But one voter told Channel 8 off camera that the trial was a “sham” and “drummed up” from the beginning.

Alex McKeown, a college-age voter, has a different take.

“I was glad that it had been found the way it was,” he said. “I think it was a good thing that the legal system was able to work its way out, even for someone with such a high profile. I am hoping it will change a few opinions in the country.”

He said this will not change his vote.

“My vote will stay the same; it was not going to be Donald Trump.”