Since this a state and not a federal crime, Trump can't pardon him self.
So since Trump won't be able to serve when elected, Congress will elect Biden for a second term .
The Republicans will rightly point this out and push to nominate Haley.
Game, set, match, the Swamp is gambling we won't start CW II to re-elect Trump, and they would be right.
Trump will be a convicted felon in Georgia this summer, and the appeals process will take years to work its way through the system.
Assume arguendo this is true.
So since Trump won't be able to serve when elected, Congress will elect Biden for a second term.
Assuming Trump WINS the election at the Electoral College, Congress does NOT get to elect anybody. If Trump is elected, Congress will get no opportunity to elect Biden in his place. If the Electoral College deadlocks with no majority winner, then Congress decides with one vote for each state.
As Trump is a natural born citizen and at least 35 years of age, why would he be ineligible to serve?
The terms of the President and Vice President automatically start at noon on inauguration day. The President cannot exercise the powers of the office until he has taken the oath. If Trump were ineligible or incapable to serve on inauguration day, e.g. he became as senile as Biden, the Vice President would exercise the office of President.
Since this a state and not a federal crime, Trump can't pardon him self.
Undeniably true, but makes no apparent legal point. In any case, Trump could not pardon himself (itself an untested dubious matter) until he was actually President and had taken the oath of office.
So since Trump won't be able to serve when elected, Congress will elect Biden for a second term.
No evident reason why Trump would be unable to serve when elected has been presented. The qualifications are specified by the Constitution. It might make it difficult for Trump to get elected, but the premise here is that he is elected. If Trump is elected by the Electoral College, Congress does not get to elect someone else.
The Republicans will rightly point this out and push to nominate Haley.
The Republicans cannot rightly point that out as it is not right. If the Party should choose to commit suicide, it could try to push Haley. They could try Liz Cheney or Mitt Romney to similar effect. The RNC, hand-picked by Trump, is unlikely to be suffering from TDS.
It should also be noted that the assumption that Biden will be the Democratic nominee is not necessarily correct. At the appropriate time, Biden can step aside and the DNC can select someone else, such as Gavin Newsom.
Amendment XXSection 1.
The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.
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Amendment XXV
Section 1.
In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
[...]
Section 3.
Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4.
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
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Amendment XII
The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;--The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--the person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice . . .
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Article 2
Section 1, Clause 5
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.