Donald Trump pleads not guilty to 34 felony counts, a reminder whooping cough deaths can be prevented and the global stage awaits for Jacinda Ardern ahead of her valedictory speech tonight in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
The last time anything remotely similar happened was 150 years ago. It involved a speeding horse and buggy, the thunder of hooves near the White House and a repeat offender who happened to be the president of the United States.
Ulysses S. Grant, who had an eye for spirited horsesand an apparent yen to test their mettle, was arrested in 1872 for speeding on a street in Washington, where he had been driving a two-horse carriage. It was the second time in two days that the police officer had stopped the president; the first time, the officer had issued him a warning.
On Tuesday (Wednesday NZ time), Donald Trump became the second American president to be taken into custody by the authorities.
The Grant episode apparently wasn’t reported in the press at the time, but it came to light in 1908 when The Sunday Star of Washington published an interview with the then-retired officer who pulled over the 18th president of the United States. The former officer’s name was William West, a Black man who had served in the Union Army during the Civil War. The story was confirmed more than 100 years later by the Washington Police Department.
While past commanders in chief have been investigated — notably Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton — the arrest of Grant for his equestrian high jinks is the closest thing history has to offer to the arrest of Trump.
Grant and several of his friends, with whom he had apparently been racing, were taken to a police station. They all had to put up US$20 in bail — what was described in the news account as “collateral” — a sum that would be equivalent today to about US$500 ($790).
The president, who had “the look of a schoolboy who had been caught in a guilty act by his teacher,” was good-natured about the arrest, according to the news account. He even drove West in his carriage to the police station, where his arrest was processed.
On the way, the police officer and the president talked about the officer’s experience during the Civil War. The former general “told him that he would not get into any trouble for making the arrest, as he admired a man who did his duty,” according to the 1908 news report.
Since then, the closest thing to a presidential arrest came when Nixon, faced with criminal prosecution, resigned and was issued an unconditional pardon by his successor, President Gerald Ford, in 1974. In a 10-minute address announcing the pardon, Ford explained that a lengthy trial would polarise the American people and damage the government’s credibility at home and abroad. It was later disclosed that he chose to deliver the pardon on a Sunday to convey mercy over justice.
Former President Donald Trump being escorted to a courtroom. Photo / AP
Just 11 months earlier, Nixon’s vice president, Spiro Agnew, had pleaded no contest to a single charge of income tax evasion and resigned. The chief prosecutor said at the time that there was fear Agnew might become president. A no-contest plea avoided prolonged litigation and allowed Agnew to avoid federal charges for a kickback scheme.
One of the nation’s first vice presidents also faced legal challenges. After leaving office, Aaron Burr was put on trial for treason in 1807 and was ultimately acquitted for lack of evidence.
In recent years, presidential candidates have come under varying degrees of scrutiny for possible crimes. Following his unsuccessful bids for the presidency and vice presidency, the Justice Department charged John Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, with campaign finance fraud in his own hush money scandal.
In 2014, a state grand jury indicted Rick Perry, then the governor of Texas, charging that he abused his power when he threatened to cut off state funding to a Democratic district attorney. With the indictment still hanging over his head, he announced his candidacy for the presidency in June 2015. He dropped out of the race three months later and the indictments were ultimately dismissed.
The case against Grant and the other men was heard in Police Court the day after his arrest, according to the news account. The judge levied heavy fines against the president’s friends, although they protested mightily, criticizing West’s conduct.
“When Gen. Grant’s name was called there was no response,” according to the account, “and his $20 was forfeited.”
