For the past several months, former President Donald Trump has been facing multiple criminal trials for crimes ranging from conspiracy to classified documents violations.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr recently floated the idea of home detention for him should he be convicted – raising the prospect that he could serve time at a “winter White House” prison in Palm Beach, Florida.
In an interview with Fox News host Neil Cavuto, Barr discussed his departure from the Trump White House amid his efforts to overturn election results and argued that Trump was not entitled to any form of “immunity” during his reelection bid.
He also responded to Cavuto’s question about how Secret Service agents would handle a conviction by suggesting that “there’s ways of having custody without putting him in facilities, you know, in federal facilities. You can have home detention and other things.”
When asked whether people would be angry at such an outcome, Barr replied that there are likely going to be people on both sides who will be angered by it.
Barr also took on Trump’s contention that he shouldn’t face charges while running for president due to potential constitutional issues as well as logistical concerns surrounding trial dates and lawyers citing their client’s need to campaign.
He argued that the two federal cases against Trump are serious and have legitimacy despite claims from the former president himself that they were simply brought up in order to bring him down politically: “You don’t get immunity for two years in the run-up to an election just by saying, hey I’m a candidate,” he said.
With these comments came predictions from Barr himself that both federal cases will most likely be tried before the election occurs this year.
Trump currently spends much of his time at Mar-a-Lago – his private club located in West Palm Beach – although he does move north during summer months when temperatures heat up, usually settling into Bedminster golf club which is where prosecutors allege one key episode occurred involving classified U.S military attack plans being waved around by him illegally.
Trump reacted angrily when news broke about Barr’s interview with Fox News regarding potential imprisonment if convicted – tearing into both Bill Barr and Fox News itself on Twitter: “Why does FoxNews constantly put on slow thinking and lethargic Bill Barr…Unless FoxNews starts putting the RIGHT people on their Ratings will never recover.”
