'Bone-chilling' Trump indictment shows 'he will remain a threat until he is convicted': legal analyst

Former federal prosecutor Barb McQuade believes that special counsel Jack Smith's indictment of Donald Trump shows that the former president is a "triple threat" to American security.

Writing at MSNBC, McQuade describes the contents of the indictment as "bone-chilling" because they show how Trump kept incredibly sensitive information about American national security strewn about in various locations at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

In addition to this, McQuade argues that the indictment shows that Trump "will remain a threat until he is convicted — and perhaps even beyond that."

Among other things, McQuade believes that Trump could deliberately reveal top-secret government information during his trial as a way to retaliate for being prosecuted.

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"In criminal cases involving classified information, a defendant sometimes will engage in a practice known as 'graymail,' threatening to reveal sensitive national secrets if the government persists in the prosecution," she writes. "For this reason, former government employees often get lenient plea deals to avoid the disclosure of government secrets at trial."

She also argues that Trump would massively damage American national security were he to be reelected because it would make longtime allies far less willing to share sensitive intelligence information if they believed Trump could simply wave it around to guests at his resorts.

It is for all of these reasons, she concludes, that he needs to be put on trial.

"Even a Trump trial and conviction may not prevent him from wreaking further havoc, but they can send a powerful message that he can be held criminally accountable and deter others who might follow his lawless example," she writes.