The U.S. Secret Service is in the business of protecting the president, whether he’s inside the Oval Office or visiting a foreign war zone.
But protecting a former president in prison? The prospect is unprecedented. That would be the challenge if Donald J. Trump — whom the agency is required by law to protect around the clock — is convicted at his criminal trial in Manhattan and sentenced to serve time.
Even before the trial’s opening statements, the Secret Service was in some measure planning for the extraordinary possibility of a former president behind bars. Prosecutors had asked the judge in the case to remind Mr. Trump that attacks on witnesses and jurors could land him in jail even before a verdict is rendered.
I don’t like it any more than you do. But a former president is still a very significant national security concern. Assassination is quite honestly the most minor concern there is for a former president. Extortion, blackmail, sabotage, espionage, all these things (and more) become a viable threat once USSS protection is gone. There’s a reason why we protect our former POTUS.