Trump faces possible prison sentences. Let’s get our vocabulary straight so that we all appreciate what Trump now knows. “Jails” are run by the county sheriff, and they house people awaiting trial and people sentenced to less than a year on a misdemeanor. “Prison” is run by the state and is for people that are convicted felons that have sentences of greater than a year. Then there is federal prison, all the way from “Club-Fed” to the SuperMax prison in Colorado. So, in speaking to people about Trump’s possible future, he faces prison, and not necessarily “club fed,” because the files may include espionage charges.
The question is whether Trump has fully absorbed the fact that he could end up in prison. He lives every other part of his life in denial and seems offended that attorneys want money to do their job for him. One often gets the impression that Trump is more embarrassed at being the one president having to put up with this crap, plus having his dirty laundry spilled, that those offenses are foremost in his mind. In response, of course, Trump does what he always does, demonstrate that he’s willing to use any tools at his disposal, whether paying people off or bringing about a violent insurrection to get what he wants. Have no doubt Trump wants DOJ to be afraid of what he might unleash if and when charged.
His company, the Trump Organization, already faces dissolution due to a guilty verdict, and New York says they’ve established a jury verdict of fraud that marched across Trump’s desk. That is one step beyond what Trump is used to, a trial and verdict. He has to wonder what might come next.
Tim O’Brien wrote the book on Trump – no, literally, he wrote the Trump biography, and he assures us that despite the fact that Trump comes across as the undereducated simpleton, who has two emotions, self-praise and rage, he does understand that all this is spiraling out of his control and he could end up in… prison.
“The reality is he has never had these intense purposeful investigations on his doorstep in multiple jurisdictions with very serious consequences attended to all of them, … the company and a fine that the company can easily digest, there still are these other titanic prosecutions staring at him.”
One gets the feeling that Trump isn’t that worried about the New York charges because they are less immediate, and white-collar criminal trials are notoriously susceptible to reversal on appeal. In much the same way, the January 6th stuff has so many different moving parts and so many people with differing agendas it would be tough to prosecute Trump on anything complicated. Perhaps interference with official duties (constant pressure on Mike Pence to violate his constitutional duties). But those files in Florida… there is a long record with the National Archives and the FBI attempting to work with him. And then there is the fact that he’d need to explain why it was entirely reasonable for him to have top-secret SCI material on Iranian missiles or Chinese defense doctrine at home as a keepsake.
No, on the Florida case, he knows he’s fkt. O’Brien assures us that Trump gets it.
The New York state attorney general could put the Trumps out of business permanently in the state of New York,” he added. “The Justice Department, should they indict Donald Trump on criminal charges, he could end up in jail. Do I think it will go there? I don’t know. But he is very aware of it.”
PRISON. He faces PRISON, and he knows it.
Now, personally, this attorney has always doubted we would see Trump in an orange jumpsuit, especially given that DOJ got an embarrassingly late start. Trump is not a young man, and one can bet that four SCOTUS members will assure Trump of an appeal to the SCOTUS, a four-year process. And given that the country is teetering on the edge politically, it is imperative to hold Trump accountable, but maybe not prison. A decision could be made to keep Trump under house arrest, unable to leave Mar-a-Lago. There may be a backroom deal to drop recommendations on sentencing based upon Trump never running again and giving up his PAC and ability to influence politics.
Maybe. Tough to tell. Good people can disagree. But one can be absolutely assured that sitting on the brink, as Trump is, knowing that he’s likely facing charges in Florida over the files, at the very least, is punishment. Most defendants/targets have no idea that they are this close to arrest. Trump knows, sleeps with it (and probably no one else) each night, and – despite the bravado, he’s thoroughly humiliated. Enjoy that he’s already being punished. It isn’t prison, but it isn’t Obama’s life, either.
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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, Substack: https://jasonrmiciak.substack.com/
OMG….my head is spinning!! Why in THE HELL is this so friggin’ complicated to indict, arrest, convict and sentence him to where the hell he belongs…IN PRISON!! I have said this before on different stories on here about this idiot Trump, if it was Mr. or Mrs. Joe/Joan Q. Public, our asses would have been arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced and off to Jail/Prison. I just don’t get it!!! :/
Bc it’s going to blow the country up. It will be tried in Florida (most likely) and all it takes is one MAGA juror who refuses to budge and you have a hung jury. It requires a mature democracy to imprison the immediate past president and we are not one right now. Additionally, there was a window, shortly after January 6th and 60 days after Biden’s inauguration that it could have been done, and I’ve railed on DOJ’s failures in those early days. Lastly, there are dozens of witnesses willing to lie to him (alreaed in Mueller.) It needs to be done, no doubt, but you get one shot and if one part is screwed up, whether in trial or on an appeal… I fault DOJ for taking so long to really investigate and I don’t like that Garland passed it off bc Trump announced (letting Trump set the conditions), I do see why they want to check every box
It will be tried in DC, because that’s where the principal crime (theft of government documents) was committed, not FL.
And in GA where they have him on tape trying to.tamper with an election.
I agree that the biggest problem.for a prosecutor is having one juror lie so.he can hang the jury Four dire is gonna be like an episode of Bull, trying to.force them.to.reveal themselves.
As someone who once held a security clearance, and while on duty at the Pentagon took part in security sweeps (during overnight shifts) of randomly selected spaces to ensure classified material was properly secured and saw what happened to the responsible inividiual(s) when even a single document wasn’t properly locked up I say this – NOTHING less than PRISON is acceptable! I’m serious. A whole host of classified documents including some with the highest levels of sensitive compartmented information. What that means in practical terms for those who don’t know even if someone has Top Secret/SCI level clearance it does NOT mean they can legally look at any so-classified document. You have to be “read in” to that specific compartment or you commit a felony by reading said document!
The worst of it is all those empty folders. We’ll never know for sure how much and what Trump took and what’s out there having been sold by him, or Jared or any one of a number of people who knew that shit way lying around! Not to mention all the staff looking to make a buck and genuine foreign operatives that knew it was around and wanted to steal or at least copy it.
No deals. File charges after the first of the year. Push to fast track the case and hope for a judge that won’t put up with bullshit delay tactics. Convict his ass and because he’s a flight risk detain him during appeal. If not in jail, certainly not down in FL. Maybe in a set of rooms at his golf club across the river from DC over in Virginia. With basic conditions. The same any prisoner staying in a jail would get when it comes to TV, comptuter/internet (IOW limited AND monitored) with basic food and not the fare he’s used to. Let him eat the regular cafeteria foodstuff. He’d be limited to his bedroom (with a “rack” – not some fancy big bed), a small living & dining area and a bathroom. (Sorry, no fake gold toilet either!) He could get the same “exercise” privileges any other person in jail would get. A little time outside – but NO heading out and playing golf.
In addition to his Secret Service Protection he will be guarded by U.S. Marshals. NOT people he hand-picked. And when his appeals are done send his ass to prison. I’m sure they can create a small, secure wing to house him until he fucking (finally) dies.
I get the sentiment. Much of it will depend upon Trump’s one superpower, delay, delay, delay. DOJ has done itself no favors in that regard.
what I really want to know is why WE DON’T KNOW everything that is missing? Why the people in charge of those documents did not keep records of everything that went out of their rooms and which ones didn’t come back. Something drastically needs overhaul about the whole system, seems to me.
Almost certainly the govt DOES know – just no reason to spell it out at this point. Many commentators have talked about the fact that all the classified stuff was logged out to someone. POTUS being on the receiving end has completely muddied the waters, but someone knows every document that wasn’t returned, and I’m confident they are following all those chains of evidence. There will be a bunch of people subpoened if they already haven’t been. But how do you actually try & convict an underling in the Executive branch for not returning a document the President has refused to give up? Presumably there is a testament they sign to explain their failure to return something within their responsibility? Non-classified documents & potential copies are another big kettle of fish, the resolution to which we are just beginning to see. I have total faith in the bureaucracy’s thoroughness, but we’re in totally uncharted waters.
Although I’d like to see him in prison, I would be happier to see him on Mt Rushmore, next to those other presidents.
Provided he was staked down properly, and it could be proved he wouldn’t poison the vultures.
Heck, just leave him up there to find his own way down.
He still.has devoted and devout supporters. I hope that is,taken into.acvount, because some of them will.go on attack and whether it is as lone wolves or militia style groups, it can get very bloody. The feds haven’t been doing a great job of picking g up.bad vibes. The Pulse night club mass shooting proved that. They need to get better at assessing threats,because once he is indicted, they will.be furious.