Former Republican attorneys general seem to disagree on the answer to one key question ahead of the criminal trials of former President Donald Trump: If he’s convicted and sentenced to prison time, should he actually go to prison?
In an interview to air Sunday on “Inside with Jen Psaki” at 12 p.m. ET, former attorney general Alberto Gonzales, who served under President George W. Bush, says that if Trump is “convicted of the crimes charged by Jack Smith and Department of Justice, I think he should serve time.”
Gonzales argues that it would only be fair for Trump to serve time if convicted, given that so many January 6 rioters are serving sentences for their actions that day.
Trump’s former attorney general William Barr has a different view, telling Fox News that he “wouldn’t want to see a former president in jail.” Barr pointed to other possible penalties like home detention.
Beyond the question of whether or not Trump should go to prison, authorities would have to determine what kind of facility he could land in.
On that point, Gonzales tells us that one of Trump’s motivations for moving the Fulton County, Georgia, case to federal court is that “he probably doesn’t want to go to a state prison. He probably would rather be in a federal facility, where his status as former president of the United States might give him additional benefits.”
"Inside with Jen Psaki" staff
"Inside with Jen Psaki" airs Sundays at 12 p.m. ET