CNN Analyst Says One Statute Used to Search Mar-a-Lago Designates Violators as ‘Disqualified from Holding Office’ – But There’s a Caveat

One federal statute the Justice Department cited to pursue documents from Donald Trump’s Florida home Monday eliminates an individual from holding public office, CNN crime and justice reporter Katelyn Polantz noted Friday.

The Constitution does not bar anyone convicted of a crime from running for president, and Polantz noted a caveat to the discussion around this specific statute: it has never been tested.

During the network’s coverage of a leaked search warrant the FBI used Monday to search Mar-a-Lago noted there were three statutes the agency cited in its search of the property.

The statutes listed are:

1. 18 USC 2071, which concerns “Concealment, removal or mutilation” of “any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing…”
2. 2. 18 USC 793 concerns the “Gathering, transmitting or losing defence information” with “intent or reason to believe that the information is to be used to the injury of the United States…”
3. 3. 18 USC 1519 concerns “Destruction, alteration or falsification of records in Federal investigations,” which speaks for itself.

On CNN Newsroom, Polantz assessed the statutes and the respective consequences for being found guilty of them. Some of them carry up to decades in prison.

Polantz noted of the concealment statute:

The third law that’s being investigated here, whether there’s evidence of it, is the concealment, removal, or mutilation of federal records, a criminal law governing federal records, and that crime, if it is charged and a person is convicted of it, it does carry the clause that the person must forfeit any office that they would run for in the United States and be disqualified from holding office.

Polantz added, “It’s never been tested whether that would apply to the presidency, given that that is something governed by the Constitution.”

She also cautioned, “No one has been charged with any of these statutes at this time, and the other thing that is important to note here is that none of these three things under investigation specify that there is a mishandling of classified documents investigation going on here.”

Top Democratic Party attorney Marc Elias tweeted Monday the statute cited by Polantz disqualified individuals from holding office. He later conceded in a subsequent post qualifications for who can run for president are set in the Constitution.

On the matter, he concluded the “idea that a candidate would have to litigate this is during a campaign is in my view a ‘blockbuster in American politics.'”

Trump is not a declared candidate, but it is widely believed he will seek the Republican Party’s nomination in 2024.

Watch above, via CNN.

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