Former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele called for Donald Trump to be jailed after the Republican presidential nominee accused his rival, Joe Biden, of trying to have him assassinated.
Steele shared the comments ahead of an anticipated verdict in Trump's "hush money" case, which could result in an unprecedented conviction of a U.S. president as Trump seeks to unseat Biden in November.
Trump has furiously criticized his four separate criminal trials as an organized political witch hunt. That rhetoric escalated last week when it was reported that the search warrant for the 2022 FBI raid of Trump's home included permission to use deadly force.
Biden's attorney general Merrick Garland dismissed Trump's accusations of an assassination plot with indignation, and claimed Trump was misrepresenting "standard" FBI protocol.
During a discussion on MSNBC's The Weekend, Steele, a frequent Trump critic, commiserated with former prosecutor and MSNBC analyst Glenn Kirschner about the fact that Trump has not been jailed yet for his fiery rhetoric against Biden and the DOJ.
Kirschner accused Trump of violating his bail conditions by inciting violence against the government.
"There is a vehicle in the law designed to address this," Kirschner said. "When a pre-trial defendant on release, he's on release still technically in four cases, is a danger to even a single person in the community, the law says he is to be detained pending trial."
Steele agreed that Trump should be put in jail to demonstrate that he is not "above the law."
"Well, if we believe he's not above the law, then put his behind in jail. And that's how that would work for everybody else."
Democrats have denied any role of politics in Trump's multiple criminal cases, two of which are being driven directly by the DOJ. Trump claims they are all coordinated to derail his presidential campaign and re-elect Biden.
The view from the other side could not be more different. Democrats are convinced that Trump is being treated with kid gloves because of his status as a former and potentially future president. For example, Kirschner expressed frustration with the judge in Trump's "hush money" trial, who has made yet unfulfilled threats of jailing Trump for violating his gag order.
"As we were just discussing, this is another failure of the equal application of the law to Donald Trump and we are paying the price dearly for it," Kirschner said.
A verdict in Trump's "hush money" case could come as soon as this week. The trial is seen as the least serious of the four Trump faces, but Democrats are heavily invested as it is likely the only one to reach a verdict before the election.
It's not clear whether Trump would go to jail even if he is convicted, but a guilty verdict would not legally bar him from serving as president.
