For all his bluster and defiance in the face of his arrest and booking in the Georgia election racketeering case, former President Donald Trump glimpsed a look at his "miserable future" when he set foot in the Fulton County Jail, wrote former federal prosecutor Harry Litman in an analysis for the Los Angeles Times on Thursday.
In many ways, said Litman, when Trump stepped into the jail to get processed and have his mugshot taken, he was being treated the same way any regular person charged with a crime in Georgia would be. However, "Trump did receive some special treatment that distinguished him — for the worse — even from some of his 18 co-defendants in the sprawling racketeering case. He is now subject to a detailed set of conditions in return for the continued privilege of staying out of the county’s notoriously decrepit jail."
Among those conditions, said Litman, are that Trump cannot engage in any intimidation of witnesses or "otherwise obstruct the administration of justice" — including anything that he might say on social media, or his $200,000 bond could be revoked and he could be held in jail ahead of trial.
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No judge presiding over a case with a former president wants to generate the controversy of putting them in jail, added Litman — but given Trump's track record, there may be no choice at some point down the line.
In the other two federal cases against him, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, Trump has been banking on winning the 2024 election and gaining the power to pardon himself as insurance — but this isn't an option in Georgia, where even the governor can't issue pardons.
That leaves Trump honestly defending himself at trial as his only means of escape — but that will be tough too, said Litman, because with 18 co-defendants, there is a high risk at least one could flip on him and give the prosecution devastating ammunition.
"There are reasons to believe the Fulton County case is unlikely to be completed before the November 2024 election," concluded Litman. "But it won’t be going away either. For Trump, conviction and incarceration in Georgia remain among the most frightening perils in the legal minefield awaiting him."
