I agree with this, taken very literally. But, and I put links on this in other SS threads, there have been repeated cases of highly unprofessional behavior by Secret Service bodyguards, including drunken brawls abroad. Because serious competent assassination attempts are so rare, I do not think the admittedly long period since their last big failure (Reagan 1981) proves they are good at what they do. It just as likely means they have been lucky.
What about Rikers Island prison guards? Don’t they have a worse record of protecting people than the SS? Not necessarily, because they have about 11,000 prisoners to protect from harming other staff, and each other. That’s a much tougher assignment.
Any level-headed NY prison official is going to realize it would make their organization look very bad if Trump was hurt. So they would put him in a unit known to be well-run. Having SS agents, with no prison guard training, second guess the experts would be asking for trouble.
Same for federal incarceration. Georgia requires more thought.
Some of the Watergate folks were held at Fort Holabird, MD. There’s probably another military base that can incarcerate a convicted former POTUS, keep him secure, allow access to his security detail, and give him no more access to people and the internet than most federal prisoners have.
I don’t blame the judge (any judge) for not being the one to go down that road. There would have to be agreement and coordination with secret service ahead of time. And i assume these members are still the Trump-loyal ones from his presidency. Someone correct me if I’m wrong though.
If Trump finds himself in direct criminal contempt (eg. threatens the judge with death right to his face in the courtroom), I imagine he could be taken directly to jail, and his secret service detail would be allowed to follow along and even stand outside the cell where Trump is being held.
Don’t see a big problem with that. In fact, they could even be provided a comfy chair just outside the bars for their 8 hour shift.
“How’s it going sir? Terrible? You want a diet coke? Sorry, no can do chief.”
They could accompany him to toilet visits (extra pay), but would not be required to cut his meat into little squares.
Yeah, this has been something of a theme for months now. There’s no way Trump can get anything but house arrest. No way he can get sent to jail for criminal contempt.
Why not? No one seems to have an answer who suggests this is some huge obstacle.
I keep channeling a pundit on MSNBC who pushed back on the notion months and months ago. Per him, it would be trivially easy to accommodate an SS detail. And the nation’s departments of correction have lots of experience dealing with “special” criminals—governors, U.S. representatives, etc.
It will be enormously satisfying to see him FAFO. But more than that, it will show that our justice system does not hold some people as above the law, at least in this instance.
How would the Secret Service protect a jail cell? Well, how do they protect any other space a former POTUS might go into? They check the space for threats, proactively address any that they find and they keep a watchful eye out while the fPOTUS is in the space. Him being in that same space for a period of years doesn’t change the mission. And if they haven’t been planning for this possibility since about five minutes after first encountering Trump, they damn well ought to have started planning the moment Judge Merchan said “I will put you in jail.” I don’t think guarding Trump in jail is by any means an impossible mission and I am sure there are ways they could do it with ease.
What about worst case scenarios, like a prison riot? Does the Secret Service guy in his comfy chair know the signs of such starting, and what to do?
The Secret Service does not have experience guarding prisoners, so they should be kept out of Trump’s place of confinement, should he be incarcerated.
They do have experience running down telephone and internet death threats. That part of their job they should keep on doing. If there’s web discussion of a plan to break into a prison to rescue DJT, then the warden, and the SS supervisor, should start talking.
I think if Trump is found guilty and incarcerated, he’ll be in a facility (or wing) where he is the only prisoner. Completely isolated and well-protected. He will never mix with other prisoners, and will be in no danger from a prison riot.
No reason he can’t end up in prison, but it won’t be Oz.
You might be right, but that sounds like a waste of money.
At age 50, he was a rapist. But now he’s almost 78. While he still can put on a podium act of being somewhat vigorous, at his age, it surely falls apart in private. He can no longer rank high as a dangerous prisoner by prison standards.
If the prison is disorderly, the solution is not to hide it from the general public by putting the VIP in glorified solitary confinement. The solution is to put him in the best congregate prison they have, improve it, and then bring up the rest of the system to a high standard.
Does anyone know about prisoner internet access in New York State?
I’ve read (and posted before) that they mostly all have illegal cell phones in Georgia, and that most federal prisoners can spend hours a day sending and receiving monitored email. But I’m missing whether or not Trump could spend all day writing up stuff for Truth Social if jailed (or imprisoned) in the Empire State.
@commasense posted this in the main ‘hush money’ trial thread. I thought it was worth reposting into this thread. While the commentator, again, doesn’t go into reasoning against/for jailing Trump for breaking the gag order, he is one that can see Merchan as willing to jail Trump.