Trump's decision to skip debate may have saved him from jail: experts

The attorney who convinced Donald Trump to skip an upcoming Republican presidential debate deserves “Lawyer of the Year” consideration as he likely stopped the former president from heading to jail, a former federal prosecutor said.

Glenn Kirschner was among three legal experts cited in a newly published Newsweek report who expressed the view that Trump’s appearance at the Republican debates would have been fraught with legal peril.

Trump on Sunday confirmed that he would skip Wednesday’s first scheduled debate, an apparently final decision though he'd long suggested that he wouldn't be there.

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"Whoever the lawyer is who had the intervention with Trump...deserves the 'Lawyer of the Year' award," Glenn Kirschner told Newsweek.

"There is no circumstance more volatile than the presidential debate where everything is going to be thrown at [Trump] by Republican candidates brave enough, or patriotic or honest enough, to confront Donald Trump," Kirschner said.

"The opportunity for him to make statements that will hurt him in his upcoming criminal trials is enormous."

Former federal Neama Rahmani told Newsweek that, from a legal standpoint, a Trump debate appearance could "only hurt him."

"So if Trump were to debate and say something that were deemed a witness threat, that would be unlawful," Rahmani said. "It would also be potential grounds to revoke his release and remand him to custody, though it's highly unlikely any judge would actually do that."

The report notes that Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the Jan. 6 election conspiracy case in an Aug. 11 ruling, warned Trump against making “inflammatory statements.”

"The more a party makes inflammatory statements about this case which could taint the jury pool or intimidate potential witnesses, the greater the urgency will be that we proceed to trial to ensure a jury pool from which we can select an impartial jury," Chutkan wrote.

Katherine Fung writes for Newsweek that, “Trump's comments on a debate stage would not only risk breaching those limitations set by the judge but could also give prosecutors more evidence to wield against him in court. Even if the conversation on Wednesday doesn't go near Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, his comments could be used against him in a criminal case.”

Former U.S. attorney Barbara McQuade told Newsweek that Trump would risk making “incriminating” statements in a debate.

"Certainly there are plenty of issues to discuss during a presidential debate outside of criminal charges, but to the extent Trump were to make any statements, that were incriminating or inconsistent with his position at trial, they could be harmful to his case," McQuade told Newsweek.

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