Former RNC chair says Trump deserves jail for attacks on judges, court officials

Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Steele said in an interview that former President Trump deserves to be jailed for his consistent attacks on judges and court officials, often in violation of court order.

“It’s enormously dangerous,” he said Saturday on MSNBC. “I’m just shocked that we’ve allowed this to get this far.”

Steele suggested Trump, who is the GOP front-runner for president in 2024, was getting unfair treatment from those who are trying to appease him and his base and trying not to appear political.

“Put his ass in jail. That’s how you end it. That’s how it stops,” Steele said. “Now, yeah, people will be mad, and they’ll be upset. But there is no other person on this planet — and certainly not in this country — who would be given the kind of grace that Donald Trump has been given to run his mouth the way he has, attacking the clerks, attacking the judges, attacking the prosecutors, personally, threatening them.”

Steele warned of the consequences of not applying the law equally.

“We’ve shown the evidence, when he does that, how his base responds. And so the system is getting pulverized from within by Trump. And it’s being pressed to the … umpteenth corner it can go in trying to appease him and allow him to be free while he’s still behaving this way,” he said.

“So if he wants to continue in this vein, then use the system the way the system would be used against all of us on this show right now. Because you know damn well — if any one of us said half of what Donald Trump has said we would not be on air tonight. We would be in a jail cell. We would be shut down.”

Trump has attacked those involved in cases against him repeatedly, prompting multiple judges to institute gag orders. Shortly after a gag order was lifted Thursday in his New York civil fraud case, Trump attacked the judge in the case and his clerk — which likely would have been a violation of the gag order.

Trump is also fighting a gag order in his federal criminal case involving his efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election. Trump’s legal team made its case Monday to halt the gag order, which is on hold until the appeals court rules on it.