CONFINEMENT: Will the DOJ have a problem jailing Donald Trump in a federal prison?
The Secret Service detail protecting Donald Trump complicates the possibility of sentencing him to do time in a federal lockup.
The United States has elected dozens of presidents and vice presidents, and Donald Trump is not the first of them to be accused of a crime.
However, if he’s found guilty on any of his current criminal charges, the nation will face a serious first: how does one imprison a former president?
Trump is entitled to Secret Service protection for life, a benefit that could be provided inside a prison, but not without significant logistical effort and taxpayer expense.
Many legal experts have opined that, if he’s convicted, the most realistic choice would be home confinement.
Take a moment to imagine being imprisoned inside a beach resort with a personal chef, a swimming pool, and all the luxuries wealth can buy and deliver to your door.
Still, gilding a cage doesn’t pry apart the bars, and there could be other penalties, including fines or even community service. The Washington Post reports:
“Trump could force politically and logistically complex questions over whether officials should detail agents to protect a former American president behind bars, leave it to prison authorities to keep him safe, or secure him under some type of home confinement, former U.S. officials said.”
One such former official, Chuck Rosenberg, who was a federal prosecutor under FBI Director James Comey, suggested that fines, community service, home confinement, and even probation could be on the table.
Others with expertise in national security and criminal law have expressed similar expectations. Law professor and national security attorney Kel McClanahan, for instance, believes an ankle monitor could be part of the plan, and that it will be for the safety of the nation, not just the former president. Business Insider reports:
“McClanahan asked how you incarcerate someone ‘who has a Secret Service detail and who has national security secrets bouncing around his brain, such that if someone holds a shiv to his neck, he’ll reveal the location of our missile bases.'”
McClanahan described an imprisoned Trump as a potential “gold mine” for foreign intelligence — although there is already speculation that Trump could be sharing secrets in a similar manner, even without being locked up.
Surprisingly few people are discussing the most practical solution to the problem of imprisoning Trump: stripping him of his Secret Service once he’s convicted of such serious felonies and placing him in solitary confinement where he can’t spill secrets to anyone and will be protected from other inmates.
That or send him to Siberia where he will be as warmly welcomed as the current climate crisis allows.
See, now that doesn’t seem so difficult, does it?
