In a conversation on MSNBC with host Jen Psaki, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) — a first-term member of the House who previously helped shepherd the first impeachment case against Donald Trump — predicted the now former president could end up imprisoned. The context in which Goldman was speaking was the continuation of attacks from Trump on various individuals connected to his legal troubles, rhetoric that spurred multiple (though temporarily suspended) gag orders.
And Trump previously asserted on tape to a journalist that he would have received a friendly welcome if he’d managed to make it to the Capitol amid the chaos of January 6. He argued to this reporter that he could have steered things in a better direction, though the circulating clips didn’t reveal the ex-president condemning the actual violence particularly directly.
“He knows that the people who are there are his supporters who he riled up and incited to invade and riot at the Capitol and try to disrupt the proper counting of the electoral college votes,” Goldman observed of the circumstances around those past comments from Trump.
“It is just unquestionable at this point that that man can not see public office again,” the Democratic Congressman eventually continued. “He is not only unfit. He is destructive to our democracy.”
On Monday, there were arguments before a federal appeals court on whether or how to continue with the gag order imposed against Trump in the criminal case he’s facing over January 6-related allegations. He’s shown so far a continued interest in making his public attacks, having already been repeatedly fined in a separate case where there was also such an order. “If he continues to do that, there will be a ratchet up of penalties, and it may start with fines, but it could ultimately end up with jail-time,” Goldman said. “And at some point — Donald Trump believes he is above the law, and he is going to meet the law headfirst.”
Watch Goldman speak below:
