Sign the petition: Disqualify Trump from running for public office.

A New York grand jury has voted to indict Donald Trump on charges involving illegal hush money during the 2016 presidential election. It is the first criminal case against a former U.S. president in history.

Donald Trump has already made it clear that a criminal indictment would not stop his 2024 presidential campaign, telling reporters at CPAC that he would "absolutely" stay in the race for president even if he were to be criminally indicted, adding that it would probably enhance his numbers.

A Trump indictment in and of itself does not equal a conviction, nor does it mean that Congress can do anything to stop Trump from running for office. But it is Donald Trump's response to the news of a possible indictment that should have legislators prepared to call for disqualification.

In a message on his Truth Social platform, he wrote, “WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”

His language has alarmed his own advisers, lawmakers, and other experts who see this type of rhetoric echoed in the language he used to incite the deadly insurrection in the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6. “Trump knows the call-and-response impact of his words on his most ardent followers,” Mary McCord, director of a democracy advocacy center at Georgetown Law School, said. “His call to ‘take our nation back,’ like his last-ditch call for them to ‘fight like hell’ on January 6, is not only the request but the permission for them to act, violently if necessary.”

For some time now, lawmakers, activists, policy and legal experts have called for Congress to disqualify Trump from running for office, pointing to the Jan 6. insurrection and Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which states that no person may serve if they "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the U.S. government. Donald Trump's recent sentiments surrounding the news of an indictment should work to resurface those demands, and reinforce to the American people that no one is above the law.

Sign the petition: Disqualify Trump from running for public office.