What Aaron Burr and Jefferson Davis Tell Us About the Trump Indictments | Joshua Zeitz, a Politico Magazine contributing writer

The charges against Trump are fairly cut and dried. But so were the charges against Burr and Davis. As was the case then, the process is as much political as it is legal, and politics will inevitably color the outcome. . .Story continues

Politico The Magazine

HISTORY DEPT.

What Aaron Burr and Jefferson Davis Tell Us About the Trump Indictments

America has never prosecuted a former head of state. But Trump’s indictments aren’t as unprecedented as you might think.

By JOSHUA ZEITZ

06/16/2023 04:30 AM EDT

Joshua Zeitz, a Politico Magazine contributing writer, is the author of Lincoln's God: How Faith Transformed a President and a Nation (May 2023). Follow him @joshuamzeitz.

"With this week’s arraignment of former President Donald Trump, who has been charged with multiple violations of the Espionage Act, the United States joins over 78 other countries — from Italy and Israel, to France and South Korea — that have charged their former heads of state or government with criminal offenses.

It’s a dicey proposition. On one hand, no one is above the law, as everyone from the American Civil Liberties Union to former Vice President Mike Pence has observed in recent days. But if former heads of state face retaliatory prosecution each time a change of parties occurs — as happened several years ago in Brazil, where a conservative government jailed former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in an effort to bar him from running for office again — democratic rule of law crumbles. It is unsurprising that Trump himself has likened his indictment to a political witch hunt, despite mounds of evidence to the contrary. That’s happened in other countries as well. But when GOP leaders echo his claim repeatedly, leading many Americans to believe it, our political system comes under serious strain.

Part of the problem is that while other countries have navigated these concerns, for the United States, it is largely uncharted territory. Two former American presidents arguably presided over criminal enterprises that might have merited arrest and conviction — but Warren G. Harding, whose administration was knee deep in grift and self-dealing, died before the law caught up with him, and Richard Nixon received a pardon from his successor.

But history does offer two proximate examples that could offer a glimpse into how the Trump indictment might play out. The first involved a former vice president, Aaron Burr, who in 1807 stood trial for treason. The second concerned the former “president” of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, who was similarly arrested on charges of treason against the United States. Both men ultimately went scot-free..."