Former President Donald Trump committed to remaining in the 2024 presidential race even if convicted of charges stemming from hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
"No, I'd never drop out," Trump told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday. "That's not my thing. I wouldn't do it."
Trump was arraigned in Manhattan last week on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and is the first U.S. president, sitting or former, to face criminal charges. Trump, who pled not guilty, also faces several criminal investigations as he makes another run for the White House.
During Tuesday's interview, Carlson asked Trump how he would respond if he is convicted in the Manhattan criminal case while in the middle of a presidential campaign.
"It is so off," Trump said, according to Axios. "Statute of limitations are years off. It's hard to believe. ... They say there's no crime. There's no, there's no anything. Think of it. I've been through seven years of bulls*** investigations."
Trump then lashed out at the multiple cases against him and his business interests, including a tax fraud case the Trump Organization was convicted in last year.
"The rallies are bigger now that the enthusiasm is more now than I've ever seen," he added.
Nothing in the U.S. Constitution bars a candidate who has been charged or convicted from seeking or taking office.
After Trump's indictment, Hofstra University constitutional law professor James Sampler told ABC News that people convicted of felonies may be prohibited from voting in many states, "but a president convicted of a felony is still allowed."
Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs ran for president from prison in 1920 and garnered nearly 1 million votes, 3.4% of the popular vote, according to AZ Central.
More recently, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry ran for president after being indicted by a local grand jury in 2014 for allegedly withholding millions of dollars from the office of a Democrat district attorney. He launched his 2016 presidential campaign in June 2015 but dropped out of the race three months later.
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