Former President Donald Trump should be a candidate for pre-trial detention in the wake of the recent federal indictment against him, according to legal analyst Glenn Kirschner.
After months of investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and special counsel Jack Smith, Trump on Thursday was officially indicted by a federal grand jury and charged in relation to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. The indictment leveled 37 counts against the former president, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act. He is set to make his first appearance in federal court on Tuesday in Miami, Florida—with the case currently being overseen by Judge Aileen Cannon, whom he appointed to the post in the final months of his presidency.
Trump is now the first former president in United States history to face federal criminal charges. Richard Nixon had been widely expected to face such charges, but was famously pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford. Trump has also been criminally charged in state court, facing a litany of counts in Manhattan, New York tied to allegations that he falsified business records to hide hush money payments he made to cover up an affair.
Trump has consistently and forcefully denied any wrongdoing in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, as he has done in the legal battles he is currently embroiled in, despite the considerable evidence presented in the official indictment, which was unsealed on Friday. Among the numerous social media posts he has made in reaction to the indictment, one invited supporters to an “ALL HANDS ON DECK” event at the Miami courthouse where he is set to be arraigned on Tuesday. The former president dubbed it the “Trump Document Hoax Rally.”
Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor who now acts as a legal analyst focused on the many cases against Trump, shared a screenshot of Trump’s post to Twitter on Saturday, presenting it as evidence that the former president should qualify for pre-trial detention.
The standard for pre-trial detention is “clear and convincing evidence that the defendant is a flight risk or a danger to the community.” Trump indisputably poses a danger to the community. More so than thousands of others who presently are jailed pending trial. pic.twitter.com/gA5bwa7PEc
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) June 10, 2023
“The standard for pre-trial detention is ‘clear and convincing evidence that the defendant is a flight risk or a danger to the community,’” Kirschner wrote. “Trump indisputably poses a danger to the community. More so than thousands of others who presently are jailed pending trial.”
The post from Trump was similar to the call he made in January 2021 for supporters to attend a rally in Washington, D.C., to protest the certification of the 2020 election. That rally became the precursor to the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Many Trump critics say that the call for supporters to attend the rally was an attempt to incite them to violence on his behalf. Trump has repeatedly praised the large number of supporters who attended the pre-riot rally, and has said he would pardon those arrested for rioting at the U.S. Capitol. The former president’s defenders have said he never intended for anyone to act violently—just to protest peacefully.
Trump made a similar call to supporters to rally when he was indicted in Manhattan in April. While some of his supporters did turnout to protest in New York, the arraignment was relatively peaceful.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s press team via email for comment.
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