Former prosecutor says she'd expect any charges against Trump to come well before 2024 presidential primaries start

A former US attorney told Insider that if Donald Trump runs for president again, federal prosecutors will make a final decision on whether to charge him.

Trump is considering an early campaign announcement that would allow him to shield himself from the scrutiny of his efforts to overturn the election. Barb McQuade, who was the top federal prosecutor in Detroit during the Obama administration, told Insider that a declared candidacy shouldn't spare the former president from Justice Department scrutiny.

She said that the timing of any case would be affected by it. The longstanding policy of the Justice Department is not to bring cases or take investigative steps that could affect the outcome of an election, according to McQuade.

Around 60 days before an election, that usually results in lack of action. She told Insider that a campaign announcement wouldn't have much effect on a DOJ investigation. I expect charges to be filed before then.

McQuade said that the Justice Department has stepped up its investigation into attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Federal investigators searched the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former top Justice Department official, after seizing the phone of John Eastman, the conservative lawyer behind a fraught legal theory to justify having then-Vice President Mike Pence block the certification of Trump's electoral defeat.

The plan to create slates of so-called alternate electors to keep Trump in power is being investigated by federal agents. That investigative activity has unfolded against the backdrop of a separate inquiry by the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, which has used a series of public hearings to tie Trump to the day's violence and highlight how his own advisors thought his election fraud claims were false.

McQuade doesn't think there will be charges against Trump allies in the upcoming election. The target end date of the Justice Department is likely to be in the year 2023.

McQuade thinks it is realistic to expect some charges in the year 2023.

Donald Trump hasn't been charged yet. I am not sure if they will find enough evidence. It can take a long period of time to prove guilt.