As New York Prepares to Indict Trump, Florida Stands Ready to Extradite Him

With the special prosecutor Robert Mueller now saying that he has enough evidence to indict President Trump and his staff on charges of corruption, Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) declared today that Florida stands ready to extradite Trump if he is indicted.

Let me be clear, President Donald J. Trump will not be welcome in Florida if he is indicted on federal charges. I have no intention of allowing an orange menace to take up residence in the White House if he’s convicted of colluding with the Russian government. Scott said during his weekly radio address. Should an indictment come down, we will begin the process of extraditing him immediately.

Should we extradite?

Donald Trump has been the subject of controversy for a long time now. He’s caused chaos in the White House with his public tweets and private conversations. He’s put our country at risk by not taking action against Russia when they interfered with our presidential election.

He has blatantly ignored climate change, which threatens the well-being of future generations. The list goes on and on. But the question is: should we extradite him? There are a lot of reasons why we shouldn’t extradite him and many more reasons why we should–it just depends on your perspective.

Extraditing Donald Trump would be a big step in restoring America’s reputation around the world as an authority that will follow through with its threats or promises to other countries around the world.

The indictment could come in the coming months

It was a busy week for President Trump. He’s been trying to get his Supreme Court nominee confirmed while working on the new trade deal with Mexico and Canada. But in the middle of all that, The Wall Street Journal reports that a federal grand jury in Manhattan is investigating alleged fraud related to Mr. Trump’s charity.

The law enforcement source said some donors have been subpoenaed or told they would be if they didn’t cooperate and provide information about their contributions. If indictments come within the coming months it could create a dilemma for the

White House because there is no extradition treaty between the United States and Russia where Mr. Trump has spent most of his time as president so far this year and it may take weeks or even months before he can be put on trial here.

The charges against him

The charges against the president range from conspiracy and racketeering (Trump has pleaded not guilty) to wire fraud. But there are no federal charges for obstruction of justice, which is something that could get the president impeached.

At his Thursday press conference in NY on a legal defense fund meant for current and former Trump campaign staff members, Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani argued for another point of view about obstruction. He made the argument that just because he threatened Comey by telling him he hoped he can let go of Flynn doesn’t mean it constitutes an obstruction since he never did anything more with it.

How extradition works

At first glance, the process of extraditing a criminal who is not an American citizen may seem complicated. The term extradition refers to the act of demanding someone who has been arrested in another country hand them over for trial and sentencing back home in one’s own country. However, it doesn’t require that much paperwork; all it takes is a phone call and a stamp for federal marshals.

The United States has been running on essentially what amounts to an honor system about international extradition for decades now.

Process of extradition

Extradition is a legal proceeding that sends a criminal defendant from one state or country to another. In the United States, extradition is governed by the United States Constitution and federal law.

A valid extradition request has four requirements:

(1) The documents must be authenticated as coming from the prosecuting government;

(2) The request must specify the particular person sought;

(3) There must be sufficient evidence of a crime committed in both jurisdictions; and

(4) The person sought must be under prosecution for that crime in the requesting jurisdiction.

Controversies surrounding extradition

In the United States of America, a president cannot be prosecuted for federal crimes by another state. The Constitution provides that only a sitting president can be impeached and convicted by the Senate. However, if President Trump is indicted in New York and the governor requests it from Governor Rick Scott of Florida,

Governor Scott will grant extradition because he signed an agreement on December 12th stating state law enforcement officials shall make all reasonable efforts to honor any legally recognized warrant for extradition signed by authorities in other states. As a result of this one-sided clause under

Rick Scott’s purview as governor of FLORIDA., Donald J.Trump has no choice but to comply with any extradition order presented.