The U.S. Secret Service is in the business of protecting the president, whether he’s inside the Oval Office or visiting a foreign war zone. Protecting a former president in prison? The prospect is unprecedented. That would be the challenge if Donald Trump — whom the agency is required by law to protect around the clock — is convicted at his criminal trial in Manhattan and sentenced to serve time. Even before the trial’s opening statements, the Secret Service was planning for the extraordinary possibility of a former president behind bars. Prosecutors had asked the judge to remind Trump that attacks on witnesses and jurors could land him in jail even before a verdict is rendered. The judge is far more likely to issue a warning or impose a fine before taking the extreme step of jailing the 77-year-old former president, reports the New York Times.
Last week, as a result of the prosecution’s request, officials with federal, state and city agencies had an impromptu meeting about how to handle the situation That behind-the-scenes conversation — involving officials from the Secret Service and other relevant law enforcement agencies — focused only on how to move and protect Trump if the judge were to order him briefly jailed for contempt in a courthouse holding cell. The far more substantial challenge — how to safely incarcerate a former president if the jury convicts him and the judge sentences him to prison rather than home confinement or probation — has yet to be addressed directly. That’s in part because if Trump is ultimately convicted, a drawn-out and hard-fought series of appeals, possibly all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, is almost a certainty. That would most likely delay any sentence for months if not longer. Sources agreed that a prison sentence was unlikely.