Retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz suggested that Democrat officials want former President Donald Trump to get killed by taking away his Secret Service protection.
But Mr. Dershowitz, a former constitutional law professor and criminal defense lawyer, asserted in an interview with Newsmax over the weekend that Mr. Thompson’s legislation is “ridiculous” and “means they want him killed because he’s obviously a target.”
“We live in an age where everybody is in danger. Look, Bobby Kennedy ought to be getting Secret Service protection, but certainly Donald Trump needs to get Secret Service protection. He’s not going to jail, but if he goes to jail obviously the law requires Secret Service protection,” Mr. Dershowitz said, referring to President Trump.
It comes as President Trump faces a criminal trial in which prosecutors allege that he falsified business records during the 2016 campaign to cover up negative news stories. The trial is scheduled to last around six to eight weeks in total, while opening arguments started Monday.
Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case, “is going to bluff, fine and threat, but he’s not going to throw Donald Trump in jail,” Mr. Dershowitz said. “That would be a guaranteed victory ... I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
A press release issued by Mr. Thompson’s office said that with President Trump’s cases, there is now an opportunity for Congress to reform the U.S. Secret Service’s protective mission “by automatically terminating Secret Service protection for those who have been sentenced to prison following conviction for a federal or state felony—clarifying that prison authorities would be responsible for the protection of all inmates regardless of previous Secret Service protection.”
“Unfortunately, current law doesn’t anticipate how Secret Service protection would impact the felony prison sentence of a protectee—even a former president. It is regrettable that it has come to this, but this previously unthought-of scenario could become our reality,” Mr. Thompson said, referring to the former president’s 91 state and federal charges.
“Therefore, it is necessary for us to be prepared and update the law so the American people can be assured that protective status does not translate into special treatment—and that those who are sentenced to prison will indeed serve the time required of them,” he added in the news release.
“They aren’t gonna back off of what they are doing,“ Ms. Greene said. ”They literally want him dead.”
“Bennie Thompson introduced a bill to take away his Secret Service protection,” she added. “That’s how serious they are. They want President Trump dead. They want to lock him up in jail for the rest of his life, so that he dies in jail, and they want to take away his Secret Service protection so that he is murdered, somewhere in jail possibly,” she also said.
The Epoch Times contacted Mr. Thompson’s office for comment on Tuesday.
On Monday, meanwhile, Manhattan prosecutors alleged that the former president broke the law and corrupted the 2016 election by trying to cover up alleged affairs with two women. His defense lawyer said that he committed no crime, while the former president denied the affair claims.
Jurors in the historic trial also heard briefly from the prosecution’s first witness: former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who prosecutors say participated in a so-called “catch and kill” scheme to suppress unflattering stories about President Trump and help him get elected.
In the first-ever trial of a former U.S. president, President Trump is charged with falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016 to keep quiet about an encounter she says they had 10 years earlier. He denied the encounter ever took place.
President Trump’s lawyer told the jury that the former president did not commit any crimes and said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should not have brought the case.
“There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy. They put something sinister on this idea, as if it’s a crime,” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said.
On Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan heard arguments about whether the former president violated a previously issued gag order that prevents him from discussing certain individuals connected to the criminal case, including Ms. Daniels and former attorney Michael Cohen, who have both denigrated the former president in media appearances. But the judge did not issue an immediate ruling, saying it would come later.
