At least not yet
Joyce Vance expands on her point:
Today, Donald Trump issued what can only be construed as a shot across the bow, after the Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya admonished him during arraignment yesterday that he must not commit any new crimes while on a pre-trial bond—the thing that’s keeping him out of jail before trial—and that efforts to influence or intimidate witnesses, jurors or others involved in the case were illegal.
So, naturally, he posted a threat on his social media toy.
It couldn’t be more clear that this is a threat to Jack Smith and the prosecutors and investigators involved in the case against him. It’s readily construed as a threat against state court prosecutors like Alvin Bragg in New York and Fani Willis in Georgia and could even be seen as a threat to people like E. Jean Carroll who have the temerity to hold him accountable for civil misconduct.
That’s a threat, made by a defendant in a criminal case, after being warned by a judge that there were consequences for violating conditions of release. Trump may think he can be cute and deny it if confronted.
He’ll throw every monkey wrench he can find into the works.
Prosecutors haven’t asked the court, at least not yet, to revoke Trump’s bond. That, of course, would be a step that would trigger prolonged litigation and possibly delay the trial. That seems to be the one thing Jack Smith is trying to avoid at all costs. He has made strategic decisions, for instance, only indicting Trump and leaving the co-conspirators unindicted, that streamline the process. He clearly wants his trial before the election.
So I’ll have to stop wishing they would lock him up. Or at least pretend to.
There’s another twist. Because Trump gets Secret Service protection, he’ll probably never go to prison.
Personally I think we should take the Peruvian approach–build a prison exclusively for ex-Presidents. Perhaps confiscate his Bedminster property and put it there. Although apparently in Peru it’s already full up.
Oh lord. That’s a bitter pill.