Trump guilty verdict a 1st for US but not the world

A Manhattan jury on May 30, 2024 convicted former President Donald Trump on charges he falsified business records related to the cover-up of his relationship with a porn star.

While this trial is now over, Trump still faces three other prosecutions: the state case against Trump and 18 others on charges they attempted to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia; the federal prosecution that charges Trump with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election; and a second federal prosecution on charges Trump illegally kept classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after his presidency ended and obstructed efforts to retrieve those documents.

While charging a former president with criminal offenses was a first in the United States with Trump, in other countries ex-leaders are routinely investigated, prosecuted and even jailed.

In March 2021, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to a year in prison for corruption and influence peddling. Later that year, a trial commenced of Israel’s longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu related to breaches of trust, bribery and fraud; it is ongoing. And Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa who was charged with money laundering and racketeering, likely faces trial in 2025 after years of delay.

At first glance, prosecuting current or past top officials accused of illegal conduct seems like an obvious decision for a democracy: Everyone should be subject to the rule of law.

But presidents and prime ministers aren’t just anyone. They are chosen by a nation’s citizens or their parties to lead. They are often popular, sometimes revered. So judicial proceedings against them are inevitably perceived as political and become divisive.

Destabilizing prosecutions

This is partly why US