Glenn Kirschner: Trump will be Convicted and will Spend the rest of his life in prison
The evidence to convict is 100% there
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner—and current MSNBC legal analyst—to me is one of the best legal experts out there. He served as federal prosecutor for more than 30 years and personally prosecuted just about every type of case out there, meaning when he tells you that the evidence is there to convict—or not convict--it’s based on real life experience.
But there is something else with Glenn. The former assistant U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. talks the big picture of why certain people need to be prosecuted, namely to punish wrongdoing in order to deter others from replicating that criminal activity. This is a point I continually harp on myself—as I did again in my article earlier this week on why despite Trump being charged with Espionage and others crimes, he still MUST be charged for his Jan 6 related crimes in order to deter Trump or others from attempting a future coup.
That is why I wanted to share below with you my interview Friday night of Glenn on my SiriusXM show breaking down the 37-count indictment against Trump—of which 31 of those counts are for committing Espionage. And it’s important that the media-and us—when we discuss the felonies Trump is facing make it clear he is charged with ESPIONAGE. The information that Trump--as the indictment explains—illegally shared with others, directed his lawyers to lie to the government about and even lost, was concerning: “United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.”
Trump compromising these highly sensitive military secrets is why Special Counsel Jack Smith stated Friday when discussing the charges: “Our laws that protect our national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States, and they must be enforced.” He added, “Violation of those laws put our country at risk.”
Below is the full 23-minute interview of Glenn. For those that don’t have the time to watch the interview video, below the video I have highlighted some key portions to read:
Highlights of the interview:
-Glenn’s key takeaway from indictment:
Glenn: We've learned courtesy of this speaking indictment, and I'm so pleased that Jack Smith and his team decided to issue a speaking indictment, so we can all see at least some of the evidence supporting these charges. We see Donald Trump participating in, indeed, directing the packing up of boxes, the packing up of classified materials so they could be taken unlawfully, mind you, from the White House down to Mar-a-lago. We then have chapter and verse of how Donald Trump is showing these documents to people with no security clearances. He's showing documents that involve military plans to strike foreign countries. to authors, you know, to just sort of casual guests to his second raider, third-rate resort, and he's saying, you know, I guess I could have declassified these, but I didn't, so they're still classified. But let me tell you a little something about them. Anyway, you have him showing members of his pack, his political Action committee, military plans, and Dean saying things like, “well, you know, these are still classified. I shouldn't show them to you their secret, but you can look at them just don't get too close. I mean, you can't make this kind of stuff up. And then the other thing I was really struck by the conspiracy that Donald Trump was in with his body man and chief box mover, Walt Nauta, because it's so brazen it's so transparent in its sort of determination to hide these boxes, not only from the Federal Government when they came a calling wanting, you know, the return of these documents, but from his own lawyers.
-Jail for Trump:
Dean: If Donald Trump is convicted of half of these charges? Does he go to jail?
Glenn: Yes, has to has to go to jail because there has to be a concrete deterrent for others who are contemplating, compromising our national security information. Mishandling national defense information which is what gave rise to the espionage charge obstructing justice, conspiring to do all of these things. If Donald Trump doesn't go to prison upon conviction, and I predict he will be convicted. Then there is no deterrent value to this entire exercise, and by exercise I mean the criminal investigation, the indictment, and the trial. Think about it. If he sentenced to, for example, home detention, that is a sentence to basically stream, Netflix and order Doordash. That's no kind of punishment, and I think Jack Smith understands that and I think he will do everything he can to get Donald Trump convicted, and ask the judge to send him to prison, probably for the rest of his life.
Trump’s own lawyers will convict him:
Glenn: When you read through the indictment, Donald Trump's lawyers, some of the most sharply incriminating witnesses against Donald Trump are referred to over and over. They're designated Trump Attorney, one trump attorney to trump, attorney 3, and they testified in the grand jury, and they provided sharply incriminating information. What we learn is that Trump and Walt Nada were involved in a conspiracy by which they kept moving and hiding the boxes, not just from Federal authorities, but from Donald Trump's lawyers, who were like figuratively chasing the boxes around, trying to find all the classified documents so they could comply with the grand jury subpoena requiring the return of those documents. So what I love being at the end of the day, this criminal trial against Donald Trump will be proved, not with the testimony of a bunch of angry Democrats, but with the testimony of Donald Trump's own lawyers.
Chance of Trump plea deal:
Dean: Any chance you think Donald Trump would try to reach some kind of plea deal in this at all?
Glenn : Well, we all know how Donald trump likes to admit his mistakes and take responsibility for his misconduct. I mean, I think the only time we've ever seen him apologize was after he got caught on that access, Hollywood tape, saying, My Mo. Is to a sexually assault women, he apologized. Once. I don't think I've ever seen him apologize or take responsibility for anything since that time, so I know I don't think Donald Trump will plead guilty. However, it wouldn't surprise me if his new criminal defense team came in and explored with the prosecutors the possibility of resolving this case short of trial, saying things like: “Well, if you'll dismiss the case against our client, Donald Trump. He'll withdraw his candidacy for the White House, or, you know, maybe he'll plead to a lesser charge if you promise him sentence to probation, so that he never has to serve 1 min in prison.”oOr here's the outlier Dean. But I wouldn't put it past Donald Trump. I could see trump, saying, You know I still got a whole bunch of classified documents, and if they dismiss the case or give me a sweetheart plea, I'll I'll return the rest of those classified documents to them. You know all of these things with Donald Trump are within the realm of possibilities. I don't think Jack Smith will go for any of it, and I think it's time to take Donald Trump to trial, get him convicted, and imprison him to deter others from following the same path.
Trump is certainly guilty of these indictments. I worry about finding a jury in Florida that will convict him. He will do everything he can to intimidate the jurors.
30 plus counts? It would take Olympic style gymnastics to get out of all of them.