Donald Trump – Planning for prison

NEW YORK (Dagbladet): The USA is well into unplowed legal ground. Never before has a former president been indicted in a criminal case. The same person is also the most likely Republican presidential candidate in the election this fall.

Trump is charged in four different cases, and the first of them is taking place against him in New York now.

Here he is charged with document forgery in connection with an alleged payment of hush money to the porn actor Stormy Daniels before the election in 2016. Daniels claims the two had a sexual affair, and that she was paid $130,000 not to speak publicly about the matter.

In the extreme, Trump could be sentenced to prison terms in both this and the other trials. The question is how this can then be solved practically.

Melania with queer flirtation

Have had meetings

– We can form some images of what it will mean. Will he share a cell with a Secret Service agent? Or will the Secret Service demand that a separate section of the prison be set aside for him? asks former judge and current lawyer, Joseph M. Cosgrove, to Dagbladet.

He was a judge in the Court of Common Pleas of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court and now works as an attorney. Cosgrove, like many others, follows the legal proceedings against Trump with great interest.

The Secret Service is the law enforcement agency in the United States responsible for protecting current and former presidents.

Catch and kill

All former presidents receive Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives. They have already had meetings where they plan what to do if Trump is jailed, reports ABC News.

Trump risks long prison sentences if he is found guilty in any of the trials. But he can also be briefly jailed by the judge in the hush money case, Juan Merchan, if he breaks the gag order he has been placed on.

Overrides

Merchan has the opportunity to imprison Trump for up to 30 days. Even during such a short-term imprisonment, the Secret Service will be involved to protect the ex-president.

– For now, of course, this is speculation as to whether he will be jailed at all, but federal law requires the Secret Service to provide lifetime protection to some selected people – including former presidents. This protection overrides all other considerations everywhere, explains Cosgrove.

Thus, the Secret Service will in one way or another go with Trump to prison if he were to be sentenced to prison.

– In one way or another, the Secret Service must be allowed to be present and protect him whether it is in a holding cell or a state prison, says Cosgrove.

– Does that mean that in that case armed Secret Service agents will be with him inside the prison?

– If there is one thing the Secret Service never does, it is to discuss protection mechanisms in public. So they’ll never tell us how they’re going to protect him, but they’re going to protect him,” Cosgrove said.

– Expect the US to be

Enormous challenges

It would undoubtedly create enormous logistical challenges if Trump had to serve a prison sentence. The New York Times also describes how representatives from various police authorities have had meetings about how to handle this.

The situation could mean that Trump brings the Secret Service into the cell, or that part of a prison is closed off to people other than Trump. It is also possible to envisage serving time under house arrest.

– This is obviously an unexplored area. No prison system, either federal or state, has had to deal with this before, says Martin F. Horn, who has led the prison system in New York and Pennsylvania, to the New York Times.

Must protect the food

Protecting Trump in a prison environment will involve both keeping him separate from other inmates. In addition, both his food and other personal items must be protected.

If he were to be imprisoned, a group of agents would have to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, rolling in and out of the prison. Weapons are, of course, strictly prohibited in American prisons, but the agents will then be armed, officials explain to the newspaper.

– May result in imprisonment

They also explain that there are parts of prisons, which are not currently being used, can now be used. Such buildings, without other inmates, could serve as a place to imprison a former president and also house Secret Service agents.

Will deprive

There is also another option to strip Trump of Secret Service protection. That is what the Democratic congressman, Bennie Thompson, who chaired the committee that investigated the violent attack by Trump supporters on Congress on January 6, 2021, wants.

He presented a bill on this recently.

“Unfortunately, current law does not anticipate how Secret Service protection will affect the prison sentence of someone to be protected – even a former president.” It is regrettable that it has come to this, but the previously unthinkable scenario may become reality, says Thompson in a statement, according to Business Insider.

Former judge Cosgrove also describes the very peculiar situation in which the American judiciary is at the moment.

– Impressed

– I am impressed by how Judge Merchan has maintained discipline in the court so that the lawyers are able to try their case, says Cosgrove and adds:

– The judge must maintain clearly defined and strict boundaries for how the parties behave, and at the same time allow them to try their case as well as possible. The tone the judge has set is in line with what we want from a judge, and he has not become a so-called player in the court proceedings.

He also explains that it is a very difficult balancing act for the judge.

– It is a delicate process because being a judge can be a very lonely role in the courtroom. You are the only one who looks in the opposite direction to everyone else, and you have a responsibility for a controlled and disciplined process, says the former judge.

Trump appears in court

The fact that the defendant is a former president, who is also trying to become president again, does not make the situation any easier.

– Unparalleled

– It is not only unprecedented that we have an indictment against a former president. But the defendant is also the presumed presidential candidate of one of the two major political parties, explains Cosgrove.

As in all criminal cases, the judge must view the defendant as innocent with all rights granted to him and everyone else in the constitution.

The former judge emphasizes that he is speculating, but he believes that it is unlikely that Trump will be sentenced to prison in the ongoing bribery case.

– There are factors that speak against Trump being sentenced to prison even if he is convicted in this case. Some of the factors against this could be that it will be his first criminal conviction, his age and the complications of jailing someone in his position. However, that does not mean that it cannot be possible to impose other restrictions, such as house arrest or other restrictions on his freedom, says Cosgrove.

President from prison?

If Trump were to be sentenced to prison in the bribery case, he could still continue to be the Republican presidential candidate. What then happens if he also wins the presidential election, will probably have to be resolved through a new round in the legal system.

“Furious” after this

– In that case, can Trump serve a sentence and at the same time rule the United States as president from prison?

– Then we dive into questions that the authors of the constitution in 1787 could never have imagined. But the constitution does not prevent a convicted felon from becoming president. It only contains some requirements that the president must be born in the United States and over 35 years of age. Beyond this, it is up to the people to decide who will be president, explains Cosgrove.

However, he believes – as federal law overrides state law – that New York could be forced to delay Trump’s sentencing if he were to be elected president.

In addition to the case in New York, Trump is also charged in three other criminal cases. These have been postponed for various reasons, and it is far from certain that any of them will end up in court before the election in November.

717.5 years

Trump can therefore theoretically be sentenced to a maximum of 717.5 years in prison. However, it is completely unlikely that the 77-year-old will receive such a long prison sentence.

In the so-called bribery case, Trump is charged with 34 counts of document forgery. Each of the charges can be punished with a maximum of four years in prison. This means that he can theoretically be sentenced to 136 years in prison if he is found guilty on all counts.

Drama: Was stopped

In Florida, Trump is charged with 37 counts of illegally taking classified documents from the White House and home to Mar-a-Lago. Trump is also accused of obstructing efforts to get the documents back. Here, the ex-president risks a maximum prison sentence of 450 years.

In Washington DC, Trump is on trial for crimes related to the attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, including his role in the violent attack on Congress on January 6, 2021. If convicted in this case, Trump faces a maximum of 55 years in prison.

Also in Georgia, Trump is indicted at the state level accused of trying to change the election results in 2020. Should he be convicted here, he risks a maximum of 76.5 years in prison.