Watergate Prosecutor Predicts Donald Trump Headed to the 'Big House'

Weighing in on Donald Trump's presidential immunity claim, former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman predicted on Saturday that the former president is headed to the "big house."

Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, awaits an appeals court ruling on whether he has presidential immunity protection in his election interference case in Washington, D.C. The argument, however, is expected to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Special counsel Jack Smith has led the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation, accusing Trump of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that led to the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. In August 2023, Trump was then indicted by the DOJ in relation to his alleged role in the riot. The former president has pled not guilty and has said the case against him is politically motivated. In addition, he has also argued presidential immunity would shield him from being tried for these charges, though critics say he was not acting in his official capacity at the time.

While appearing on MSNBC's The Katie Phang Show on Saturday, Akerman discussed Trump's presidential immunity claim, adding that he expects the Supreme Court will not grant it.

"It's pretty clear what the law is. The idea that a president can kill his political opposition and not get prosecuted is completely off the charts. There's no way anybody is going to buy that," Akerman, a former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said.

He added: "What is really at stake here is getting this trial that is scheduled for March 4 [2024] back on track, because the minute that Donald Trump is in the dock, the jury is sworn in — he is gone. He's going to be convicted and be on his way to the big house. That is what he is concerned about. His only legal defense here, it's not on the facts, it's not on the law, it is on delay."

Newsweek has reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.

This is not the first time legal experts have pointed out the speed at which Trump's cases are being moved forward amid claims the former president is hoping to delay the various trials he is currently facing until after the 2024 election. Including his federal election interference case, Trump was indicted four times last year on two state and two federal levels. The former president maintains his innocence in those cases as well.

While appearing on The Katie Phang Show last week, Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama during the Obama administration, was asked about the speed at which the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has moved in ruling on Trump's presidential immunity claim.

In response, Vance pointed out that despite Trump's strategy of delay with some judges, she is seeing that both the Supreme Court and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals are hopeful in terms of moving the process forward.

"So I think this is the key question because Trump's overall strategy is one of delay, get everything past the election, hope that you win and you can resolve everything from the oval office in your favor. But what we are seeing now in Washington is very hopeful, to people who aren't lawyers I think the speed at which courts move is mystifying, it's extremely slow. What we've seen in these last couple of weeks has been lightning speed out of both of these courts," she said.

The court of appeals could release a decision on Trump's immunity in the coming weeks. That decision may then end up being appealed to the Supreme Court ahead of the election interference trial, which is scheduled to begin March 4, 2024.