Former President Donald Trump should be forced to give up his passport to stop him from fleeing the country and avoiding prosecution if he loses the presidential election, according to ex-federal prosecutor Randall Eliason.
Trump, convicted in May of 34 felony charges in New York state, also faces a federal felony election subversion trial that will likely only take place if he loses to Vice President Kamala Harris in November. During a streaming audio conversation with tech billionaire Elon Musk on Monday, Trump hinted that he might flee to Venezuela “if something happens with this election.”
Eliason, a George Washington University Law School professor specializing in white- collar crime, suggested on Tuesday that Special Counsel Jack Smith, whose office is prosecuting Trump, should move to force the former president to surrender his passport due to increased concerns about him fleeing prosecution following his comments to Musk.
In a post to X, formerly Twitter, Eliason noted that U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan did not require Trump to give up his passport as a condition of his release pending trial, while arguing that “in light of” Trump’s remarks on Monday, “Smith should move to modify Trump’s release conditions and have her require that he give up his passport.”
Newsweek reached out for comment to the offices of Smith and Trump via email on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, Chutkan rejected Trump’s motion to dismiss the federal case based on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling partially on his side with regards to presidential immunity. Smith also this month asked for a slight delay to the case to prepare for changes brought by the Supreme Court ruling.
During Trump’s talk with Musk on Monday, which was hosted on X after a delay of more than 40 minutes due to technical issues, the former president suggested that he might leave the country while arguing that Venezuela would “be a far safer place” than the U.S. for future meetings with Musk if Harris becomes president.
“If something happens with this election, which would be a horror show, we’ll meet the next time in Venezuela, because it’ll be a far safer place to meet than our country,” Trump told Musk. “OK, so we’ll go. You and I will go, and we’ll have a meeting and dinner in Venezuela.”
Trump has repeatedly pushed baseless claims that the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, an autocratic ruler who was declared the winner of what was widely viewed as a fixed election last month, has been releasing violent criminals from prisons and mental institutions and sending them to the U.S.
A former speechwriter for Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed in 2022 that the Russian strongman had a backup plan to flee to Venezuela alongside his leadership team in the event that Russia loses its ongoing war with Ukraine.
