As former President Donald Trump faces 91 felony charges in four jurisdictions, his lawyer in his civil fraud trial in New York insisted during an interview Tuesday that the prospect of jail is “not even something we think about.”
When asked by Newsmax host Carl Higbie whether it’s logistically possible for Trump, as a former president, to be jailed, Alina Habba didn’t seem too concerned.
“He’s protected by Secret Service—period,” she said. “I always tell people when they’re panicked, listen: he’s protected by Secret Service, number one. Number two: He did nothing wrong.”
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She continued: “Secret Service will always protect President Trump. That’s the truth. They have to, wherever he is. But it’s not—it’s not even something we think about, to be honest, because this is all political.”
Since Trump was first indicted in March, legal experts have debated the feasibility of imprisoning the former commander-in-chief if he is convicted, with opinions varying in part due to the lack of precedent.
While outcomes in each of Trump’s four criminal trials are still a long way off, the notion of him being jailed over how he conducts himself during his trials is not. Earlier this month, the judge in his New York bank fraud case raised the possibility of jail time if he continues to violate a gag order. When Trump violated it a second time days later, the judge doubled his fine to $10,000.
Meanwhile, former Trump lawyer Ty Cobb predicted Monday that, in light of the recently reinstated gag order in the Jan. 6 case in Washington, D.C., Trump will end up in jail for “a night or a weekend.”
As for whether or not Trump himself agrees with Habba that being incarcerated is not worth thinking about, one telling clue came during a campaign speech in New Hampshire earlier this month.
“I don’t mind being Nelson Mandela because I’m doing it for a reason,” he told supporters, referring to the South African leader who spent 27 years in prison for opposing apartheid. ”We’ve got to save our country from these fascists, these lunatics that we’re dealing with. They’re horrible people and they’re destroying our country.”
