TOLEDO, Ohio — As a New York grand jury decides whether or not to indict former President Donald Trump, University of Toledo political science professor Sam Nelson said the prosecution of a president is an unprecedented occurrence in the U.S. political landscape.
"Lots of high officials, pretty much all the way up to, but not including, the president," Nelson said.
Nelson said even Richard Nixon's vice president Spiro Agnew was involved in criminal proceedings. In 1973, Agnew pleaded no contest to felony tax evasion stemming from his time in Maryland politics to his time in the White House. Nixon then replaced Agnew with Gerald Ford.
Williams County Democratic Party Chair Paul Duggan chalks Trump's prosecution up to a step in the right direction.
"No one's above the law," Duggan said. "If the whole legal system fails, if rich people are able to avoid the law, and poor people are prosecuted ... if it's against the law, he ought to be prosecuted."
Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said the circumstances of the possible charges make no sense.
"Some bookkeeping error from seven years ago, a misdemeanor is now what they're going after," Ohio Representative Jim Jordan said. "So it makes absolutely no sense."
With the Jan. 6 Capitol riot still a fresh reminder of how Trump supporters reacted to the former president's defeat in the 2020 presidential election, concerns of similarly violent protests if Trump is indicted are present.
Police in New York and Washington D.C. are on standby as a precaution for any possible demonstrations.
Nelson said potential protests could be smaller because of the criminal charges, but nothing is certain.
"The number of people who might be willing to go to prison for him, because he's being prosecuted, might be smaller than we think," Nelson said. "It's really hard to predict exactly what might happen."