Can Donald Trump be reelected despite being convicted?

Former US President Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday for the third time by prosecutors in an investigation concerning the overturning of the 2020 election and instigating his supporters to storm Capitol Hill as he was losing the office to incumbent President Joe Biden.

Special Counsel Jack Smith is looking over the investigations against Trump who regarded the January 6 incident as "an unprecedented assault on American democracy."

But there is a question among people what if Donald Trump wins the presidential election? Can he retain the US Presidency despite being convicted of the charges against him?

Experts maintained that he can assume the Oval Office even though he is indicted.

Law professor Richard L Hasen from the University of California Los Angeles told CNN that the 77-year-old Republican candidate still has a path to serving as president should he win reelection in 2024.

“The Constitution has very few requirements to serve as President, such as being at least 35 years of age. It does not bar anyone indicted, or convicted, or even serving jail time, from running as president and winning the presidency,” Hasen said who is an expert on election law.

It remains unclear if a president could serve from prison.

"How someone would serve as president from prison is a happily untested question," Hasen said.

Can Donald Trump pardon himself if reelected?

According to the indictment, Donald Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

The latest criminal charges are separate from those 40 counts in which special counsel Smith is investigating the alleged mishandling of classified documents, and those 34 charges of falsifying business records related to an alleged hush money payment made to an adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Hansen maintained that if Donald Trump wins the election and is convicted before winning, he can pardon himself. “Whether he can do so is untested. The Supreme Court may have to weigh in,” Hasen said, adding that Trump could “potentially appeal a conviction to the conservative Supreme Court.”

Can Trump dismiss the Justice Department case?

While speaking to the press conference after the indictment, Special Counsel Smith said he will seek a “speedy trial,” but if Trump becomes president before a trial convicts him, “he may be able to dismiss it entirely”.

A lawyer who was Trump’s attorney during his first impeachment Robert Ray told CNN after Trump’s indictment in the secret documents case, the former president would control the Justice Department if reelected, adding that if “the documents case was pending at that time, he just dismisses the case.”

Trump's defence attorney John Lauro while talking about the latest indictment told CNN that he thinks a potential trial could last “nine months or a year."

Lauro said he will need to see the evidence but that his client deserves as much time as any other citizen. “Every single person in the US is entitled to due process, including the former president,” he said.

Can Donald Trump vote if he is convicted?

The former President Trump could not vote if he is convicted of a felony at the federal level or in New York, at least until he had served out a potential sentence.