Just days after former President Donald Trump was found guilty by 12 Manhattan jurors in a sham trial that should have been nothing more than a misdemeanor, people are wondering how Trump would be protected if he goes to jail.
In an unprecedented outcome, challenges arise for how the Secret Service would adapt if corrupt Judge Juan Merchan sentences Trump to prison.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Secret Service said the guilty verdict "has no bearing on the manner in which the United States Secret Service carries out its protective mission.”
“Our security measures will proceed unchanged," chief of communications for the Secret Service Anthony Guglielmi said.
Asked if Trump would be housed by himself or with the general population, a Department of Corrections spokesman said last month, "The Department would find appropriate housing for him if he winds up in our custody."
The New York Times reported that there had been conversations involving the Secret Service and other law enforcement about how to move and protect Trump if he were briefly jailed for contempt, but the challenge of a longer prison sentence has yet to be addressed. This could be in part because, even though the sentencing is in July, a series of lengthy Trump appeals that could rise to the Supreme Court would likely follow. Via Fox News Digital.
Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss) introduced a bill that would strip Trump of his Secret Service privileges, which would “remove the potential for conflicting lines of authority within prisons and allow judges to weigh the sentencing of individuals without having to factor in the logistical concerns of convicts with Secret Service protection.”
The Denying Infinite Security and Government Resources Allocated toward Convicted and Extremely Dishonorable (DISGRACED) Former Protectees Act also provides provisions on Secret Service duties if Trump is sentenced to house arrest rather than jail time.
“Unfortunately, current law doesn’t anticipate how Secret Service protection would impact the felony prison sentence of a protectee — even a former President," Thompson said in a statement. “It is regrettable that it has come to this, but this previously unthought-of scenario could become our reality."