You'll be able to watch the State of the Union address on your favorite cable-news network on January 13, 2026.
The president doesn't take a limo to the US Capitol this year. In the past, hundreds of members of congress were in attendance. The commander in chief's message was streamed to lawmakers and into your living room via the internet from his prison cell.
This scenario is also far-fetched and out of the ordinary.
Law experts told Insider that it's possible given former President Donald Trump's legal troubles and his desire to return to the White House.
On August 8th, the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
The Justice Department is looking into Trump's attempts to change the result of the election. In February, the National Archives asked the department to investigate if Trump broke the law when he took official government records with him to Mar-a-Lago. The US House January 6 select committee has built a public case that Trump was involved in the attack on the US Capitol and did nothing to stop it.
According to nine legal experts interviewed by Insider, the Constitution wouldn't stop Trump from running for president again.
Only natural born US citizens who are at least 35 years old and have resided in the US for at least 14 years are required to run for president. The first step toward the White House is filing paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.
Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law, said that the fact that he is in prison won't stop him from running.
Running for president from prison is a thing of the past.
Eugene Debs, a Socialist presidential candidate, was imprisoned in Atlanta in 1920 and won a small amount of the national vote. The president pardoned Debs after he was convicted of treason for opposing US involvement in World War I.
After being convicted of mail fraud, Lyndon LaRouche ran for president in 1992.
Legal scholars say it's easy to answer whether or not Trump could run for president from prison.
Matters get more complex from there.
For a candidate like Trump who thrives on in-person rallies that draw five-figure crowds, campaigning from a minimum-security prison would be very difficult.
It would take a lot of effort to convince tens of millions of Americans that a septuagenarian could lead the world.
Voters decided to vote for Trump despite his imprisonment.
Barbara McQuade is a law professor at the University of Michigan and a former US attorney. He would have to rely on people to help him.
Is it possible that Trump would use his power to make his life chaotic? He would try to pardon himself. He would have to defend himself in a third trial.
Trump has maintained that investigations into his actions, as well as his two impeachment trials, are part of a "witch hunt" against him.
Our country is broken, our elections are rigged, corrupt, and stolen, our prosecutors are politicized, and I will have to keep fighting like I have been for the last five years! The president said in a statement.
"This is the stupidest press inquiry I've received in the last ten years," said Trump spokesman Jason Miller in a May 25 email. Miller quit his job as Trump's spokesman to start a tech startup.
If Trump ran for president and won the Republican nomination, it wouldn't be certain that his name would be on the ballot in each state.
Laws that would make it harder for Trump to qualify could be passed by state legislatures.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 18 states have introduced bills that would require presidential candidates to make their tax returns public. The bills gave Democrats a lot of attention, but they did not go far.
Efforts continued during the election. The Illinois Senate voted to prevent Trump from appearing on the state's presidential ballot if he didn't release his income tax returns. The measure never made it to the Illinois House.
Legal battles are created by ballot-access measures. Changing or adding to the requirements to run for president would require the approval of the US Senate, a feat that hasn't been accomplished in nearly 30 years.
Any presidential candidate who meets the Constitution's requirements and submits the number of qualified voter signatures required by each state should be able to appear on the ballot.
It's easy for states to restrict ballot access for state-level candidates, such as former Gov. Rod Blagojevich who was pardoned by the president in 2020. He was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for public corruption. Blagojevich can't hold any local or state offices. The federal office is still open.
The ornate Resolute desk was where Trump conducted business. He wouldn't have much more than a metal table.
Legal scholars say that Trump could probably do most of the job from a prison cell.
The constitution doesn't require a president to be at any particular location, so he could take the oath there first.
After John F. Kennedy's assassination, President Lyndon B. Johnson took his oath on Air Force One.
Many of the things presidents normally do from the Oval Office can be done from a prison cell, according to Tribe. He could make appointments and issue pardons.
The White House has been described as a prison by some presidents, but the Constitution doesn't say that's the only place you can serve as president.
A State of the Union address to Congress is required by the constitution.
They can be delivered electronically. Presidents used to deliver written messages to Congress instead of in person.
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The nuclear football is a briefcase that is supposed to stay near the president and hold the codes needed to launch an attack.
He asked if the military aide would be in an adjacent cell.
According to former federal law-enforcement officials, the US Secret Service is likely to protect Trump.
Some of the powers that the president has could help him.
That is dependent on where he ends up.
He would have more say over his fate if he was in federal prison. He can try to issue a presidential self-pardon, but it's not certain if that will hold up in court.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons would be under Trump's control. Trump could try to improve his setup if he were in federal custody.
"I think he could designate the White House as a Bureau of Prisons facility, where he's the only prisoner," Frank said.
If Trump was found guilty of a state crime, federal-level executive powers wouldn't do much. Depending on the state, Trump's freedom may be in the hands of a governor or state parole board.
Brian Kalt is a law professor at Michigan State University.
More than a dozen investigations and lawsuits have been filed by Trump and his businesses. Georgia and New York are the source of Trump's greatest legal peril at the state level.
Kathy Hochul is a democrat and is favored to win a four-year term in office.
Hochul wouldn't accept calls to cut Trump's legal slack.
Georgia is facing a criminal investigation over Trump's attempts to overturn the election results. As soon as this autumn, the Fulton County District Attorney could make a decision on whether or not to charge Trump with a crime.
Georgia has a state board that handles pardons. All of the members of the Georgia parole board were appointed by Republican governors.
While Trump could appear on a ballot, he might not be allowed to vote from his prison cell. Voting rights for people who have been convicted of a felony in Georgia and New York are not restored until they are out of prison. The same rules are followed by 16 other states.
Is it possible for a president to discharge his powers and duties if he is in prison?
The 25th Amendment, which covers presidential disability and succession, would be brought into the equation.
The plain language of the amendment could be used to argue that he is disabled.
It is possible for Trump to hand over power to his vice president for an extended period of time. The vice president could be the president's son or another person.
The 25th amendment has a mechanism for the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president not fit for office. If two-thirds of congress voted to remove him, he would be gone. Legal experts said it was unlikely that the vice president and Cabinet would agree to remove him from office.
Another option is to be impeached by the president. The Senate acquitted Trump both times they tried to impeach him. The 25th Amendment requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate in order to be used to remove a president from office.
The question of whether a president could be impeached for things they did before taking office would be posed by lawmakers.
The 14th amendment could be a problem. If someone gives "aid or comfort" to enemies of the US, they can't hold federal office. Experts said it was not clear if the amendment could be used to prevent Trump from returning to the presidency.
Kalt said that the criminal charges that prosecutors are discussing don't deal with the insurrection at the US Capitol.
There is a chance that Trump will win the presidency from prison, but it is not implausible.
"This president throughout his public career has reminded us that there are things we wouldn't have thought of before he was elected," Tribe said.
It is probably not as crazy as I think it is. You can't say never anymore.
If Trump is elected, he might be more likely to run in 2024 because he might be able to get out of prison.
—George Conway (@gtconway3d) May 26, 2021
The original article was published in May of 2021.
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