A former prosecutor has predicted that Donald Trump will go to jail "probably for the rest of his life" following his historic federal indictment.
Glenn Kirschner, a former US Army prosecutor, has suggested that Trump will most likely be convicted of the 37 counts he has been indicted with - and could die in jail.
Trump, 76, faces charges related to the mishandling of classified documents, including counts of retaining classified information, obstructing justice and making false statements.
In an interview with Dean Obeidallah, Mr Kirschner said: "I think [special counsel Jack Smith] will do everything he can to get Donald Trump convicted and ask the judge to send him to prison probably for the rest of his life."
According to the former prosecutor, it is believed that Trump will go to jail because "there needs to be a concrete deterrent for others who are considering compromising national security by mishandling classified information."
Mr Kirschner explained that the espionage charge was based on the alleged mishandling of national defence information.
He asserted that if Donald Trump is not sent to prison upon conviction, "there will be no deterrent value in the entire process of the criminal investigation, indictment, and trial."
Therefore, Mr Kirschner predicted that Donald Trump will be convicted and highlighted that a sentence of home detention, for example, "would not serve as a punishment".
Meanwhile, one of Trump's attorneys claimed that there is "no way" Donald Trump will take a plea deal.
Alina Habba told Fox News: "I could never imagine, I know I would never advise that, especially when he's not done anything wrong.
"You take a plea deal to make something go away. That's an admission of guilt. He would never admit guilt."
In his first appearance after the indictment, Trump blasted his historic indictment as “ridiculous” and “baseless" and tried to turn the dire legal peril to political advantage.
In a speech in Georgia on Saturday night, Trump made a funny voice as he joked about the "espionage" accusations and imitated the Democrat administration claiming Trump is "obstructioning... obstructing" justice.
He claimed that, as a former president, the handling of his documents falls "under what is known as the Presidential Records Act, which is not at all a criminal act and everything."
"It's all judged by the Presidential Records Act in this whole fake indictment. They don't even once mention the Presidential Records Act which is really the ruling Act, which this case falls under 100%," he said.
And added: "Because they want to use something called the Espionage Act and that sounds terrible. Oh, espionage. We got a box - I got a box..." to laughter from many in the crowd.
