'Nobody knows the playbook;' Lynchburg political expert weighs in on Trump indictment

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — A local political expert is addressing former president Donald Trump's indictment on Thursday.

Dr. David Richards, Chair of the Political Science Department for the University of Lynchburg, said this is unprecedented territory, as Trump is the first-ever former president to have a warrant out for his arrest.

"We're going to see a lot of action happening over the next few days, but maybe over the next few months, as well. Nobody really knows the playbook, going forward, we're going to make this up as we go along," Dr. Richards said.

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Dr. Richards said the biggest question: How will this impact the GOP primaries?

"What does this do to DeSantis' race? Does this allow Youngkin to step in and say, 'Hey I'm a viable alternative. I'm not indicted, I'm not in trouble.' Or does this mean that now they have to rally around trump, and he's going to be the Defacto leader of the GOP primary because he's the one that has everything at stake," explained Dr. Richards.

Trump is facing multiple criminal charges, and he's involved in a number of criminal investigations, which brings up another big question: If he is charged with any of these crimes, could he be disqualified from the race?

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"Most of them seem to be campaign finance charges, mishandling or mislabeling money, and I'm not sure that would be in and of itself disqualifying. If he's charged with a felony, that makes it a little more difficult."

Dr. Richards said it will be interesting to see whether other investigations in the works, like the classified documents case, will see this indictment as a signal that they can move forward. If that happened, Dr. Richards believes Trump's eligibility to run could be in more danger.