If Donald Trump is indicted in Georgia the statute that the judge must follow states that the defendant can only get bail if they aren’t a risk to intimidate witnesses or obstruct justice.
Andrew Weissmann explained on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House:
Now we have seen the former president get bail in Manhattan, in Florida, and in D.C. We have also seen the former president continue to make statements that at least arguably are obstruction of justice or intimidating witnesses. Why is that important? Because in Georgia, the statute that may apply here depending on what is charged is one where the presumption is one that the defendant has the burden of rebutting. And in other words, it is on the defendant to show that he will not commit crimes and not a risk of flight and let me give you the exact words because this is the provision that the court has to find to release someone on bail in Georgia.
Which is that the defendant poses no risk of intimidating witnesses, or otherwise obstructing the administration of justice. Poses no risk of intimidating witnesses. To me, that is going to be for a judge who is going to treat Donald Trump or anyone else like any other defendant, that could be a problem. Because just today we saw a continuation of attacks on the D.C. federal judge and on Truth Social saying that Geoff Duncan, the former lieutenant governor, should not comply with the grand jury subpoena in Georgia. You can’t tell a witness not to comply with a grand jury subpoena unless there is some legal ability to do that. But that is not what the former president did. So, it will be interesting to see how the judge deals with bail.
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Given that Trump tried to intimidate a Georgia witness before breakfast on Monday morning, and Trump’s public comments/social media feed is loaded with attempts to intimidate witnesses and obstruct justice, the judge may have to make a decision on bail. Given that Trump is pushing 80 years old and has no criminal convictions yet, seeing him remanded to jail seems like a long shot, but it would be interesting if he was fitted for an ankle bracelet and placed under house arrest until his trial.
Throwing Trump in jail would allow him to play the martyr, but sending him back to Mar-a-Lago with an ankle bracelet would be an appropriate way to keep him in line.
Trump is scared, and as events in Georgia unfold, it is easy to see why.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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