During a wide-ranging interview on Monday night with billionaire Elon Musk on the social media platform now controlled by the latter — X, formerly Twitter, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump started talking about potentially heading to Venezuela “if something happens with this election.”
Presumably, Trump was referring to more of the systematic fraud that he still insists, without proof, swung the 2020 election away from him when the reality was just that Joe Biden won the race.
Well, Trump’s comments about heading to Venezuela drew some concerns.
“Trump is a convicted felon to be sentenced in a month and he’s talking about fleeing to a country that refuses US extradition requests. Anyone else would be in jail. Trump is showing yet again that he isn’t amenable to Probation’s supervision and must be sentenced to jail time,” wrote MSNBC legal analyst Kristy Greenberg on X, addressing Trump’s comments.
The sentencing that is scheduled for next month is in his criminal case in New York City on business records charges amid which he was convicted on all counts by a jury. Sentencing was originally scheduled for July of this year but was delayed amid questions about potential ramifications of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established so-called presidential immunity, meaning protection from prosecution for certain actions taken by a president while in that role.
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann predicted that the sentencing would eventually move forward, though there are still additional proceedings set for between now and then.
As she has taken on her new role as Democrats’ presidential pick for the year, Vice President Kamala Harris has pointed to her experience in prosecution, both as a courtroom prosecutor and then as the elected attorney general of California. She’s contrasted that background with Trump’s record time and again while on the campaign trail.
