Can Donald Trump still run for president after being indicted twice?

President Donald Trump has been hit with a second indictment as he maintains the lead for the 2024 Republican nomination (Picture: AP)

Donald Trump is the first former president to be charged with a crime not only once, but twice.

The federal indictment unsealed against Trump in the classified documents probe on Friday piles on a new layer of legal troubles for the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP nomination.

But experts say the indictment, along with the first criminal charges he was slapped with in a hush money case, are unlikely to derail or disqualify him from running for president again.

‘Trump’s legal problems shouldn’t affect his campaign,’ from former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Metro.co.uk on Friday.

‘Many of his supporters believe that he is being treated unfairly, and there is no prohibition against a defendant under indictment or even a convicted felon from serving as President.’

Theoretically, Trump could even serve as president while in prison, Rahmani said.

The federal indictment could reportedly lead to up to 100 years behind bars for the 45th president.

‘Practically speaking, Trump will try to delay the trial until after the 2024 election,’ Rahmani said. ‘If he wins, it’s well established that a sitting president can’t be prosecuted and the case will go away.’

Trump and his associate Walt Nauta were charged with 37 criminal counts in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his handling of classified documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago.

It came just over two months after Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s probe into his role in a hush payment to a porn star.

Indictments and even convictions do not legally disqualify an individual from running for president or serving if elected, said American University assistant professor Chris Edelson.

‘The clearest path to disqualifying Donald Trump running for office would have been if the Senate had convicted him in one or both of the impeachments,’ Edelson told Axios.

After railing against special counsel Smith and the Biden administration for hours, Trump on Friday evening suggested he is eager for the showdown in court.

‘SEE YOU IN MIAMI ON TUESDAY!!!’ he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

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