'Most dangerous defendant on pretrial release': Expert proposes answer to Trump problem
March 29, 2024
Former President Donald Trump is a "dangerous" pretrial defendant, said former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner on MSNBC — and judges and prosecutors should avail themselves of the tools they have to deal with dangerous defendants.
This comes amid worry about the former president's public attacks on New York Judge Juan Merchan and his family, as his Manhattan hush money trial is just around the corner.
"Donald Trump made a mockery of an insurrection," said anchor Nicolle Wallace. "Donald Trump made a mockery of the Mueller Investigation. Donald Trump has made a mockery of every institution he's touched or talked about. He has now made a mockery of the rule of law, and I wonder what you think the rule of law and those care about it do in response."
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"You know, there actually is an answer to this problem," said Kirschner. "There is a solution, but none of the institutions of government, none of the judges, none of the prosecutors have thus far been willing to do it. In 30 years, every single time I had a grand jury return felony charges against the defendant, I had a decision to make. I had to decide whether to file a motion for pretrial detention. The only factors that entered into that decision were, is there clear and convincing evidence that the defendant is a danger to the community or even one person in the community? If the answer to that question was yes, I was obliged to file a motion for pretrial detention. I was obliged to do it to protect the victim. I was obliged to do it to protect the community. And I knew that it was a lawful vehicle to mitigate the danger."
"No institution of government, no judge, no prosecutor has been willing to apply that law the way it would be applied to you, me, everybody on this panel, and virtually everybody else in America who wasn't named Donald Trump," Kirschner continued. "I maintain Donald Trump is the single most dangerous defendant who's on pretrial release in the United States of America. He's a danger to the community. He's a danger to the witnesses. He's a danger to the jurors. He's a danger to the judges and their staff. He's a danger to the prosecutors and their staffs. He's a danger to the family members of all of those groups. And thus far, the institutions of government and the good people that populate those institutions have been willing to sacrifice the safety of all of those people. Indeed, they've been willing to bet the future of our democracy on it rather than hold Donald Trump accountable as the law provides in the pretrial detention arena."
"That is the solution to the problem," he added. "I think, Nicolle, part of the challenge is Donald Trump almost has too many criminal cases up and running at the same time, and there are four judges and four teams of prosecutors saying, well, you know, maybe one of the other judges or the other prosecutors will apply the law of pretrial detention as it was designed to be applied. And thus far, nobody has applied it."
Watch the video below or at the link.
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