Norm Eisen of the think tank/policy organization Brookings said Wednesday on X (formerly Twitter) that he believes Donald Trump to know he’s “likely” heading to jail.
Eisen was discussing a push from the Trump team in his local criminal case in New York City to get the presiding judge off the case in tandem with the ex-president’s quickly infamous claims of political bias that named the judge’s daughter, despite her lack of involvement in the actual case. Trump pointed instead to purported political activities on her part, and presiding Judge Juan Merchan eventually expanded a gag order already imposed on Trump, expressing concerns about Trump’s angry rhetoric potentially creating a cloud of fear and intimidation over various figures involved in the proceedings.
“It’s so obvious! Trump is getting more & more desperate because he knows he’s likely going to be convicted & sentenced to JAIL,” Eisen argued.
This hypothetical could arrive comparatively soon, with trial in the case against Trump scheduled to begin within weeks as the judge holds at bay a series of complaints from Trump’s team of supposed prosecutorial misconduct.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, are characteristically opposing the newest push from Trump for presiding Judge Juan Merchan to exit the proceedings. The local team said, as highlighted by NBC News, that there was “simply nothing new here that would alter this Court’s prior conclusion that nothing about this proceeding will directly benefit Authentic or this Court’s family member, let alone this Court.” “Authentic” refers to a company with which Merchan’s daughter has been involved. It’s reportedly worked to advance Democratic political causes. Prosecutors already successfully argued for the recent expansion of the gag order on Trump, who is now blocked from making a range of public attacks on family members of the judge and various lawyers involved in the case as well.
