According to longtime attorney and author Kenneth Foard McCallion, Donald Trump's trials and alleged criminality are a test as to whether America will remain a democracy or succumb to the former president's particular brand of authoritarianism.
Speaking to Salon, he warned that intelligence agencies should monitor Trump and his inner circle to make sure he doesn't sell or give away the country's military secrets to a hostile foreign power or any other entity as a way to raise money to cover the massive civil judgments handed down against him.
"Between Judge [Arthur] Engoron’s rulings and the E. Jean Carroll case, Trump owes close to half a billion dollars at this point. Trump's lawyers keep saying he can put up a $400 million bond, but that's going to liquidate all of his available cash. There's only so much that Trump can squeeze out of his election campaign fund to finance his legal bills and judgments," McCallion told Salon's Chauncey DeVega.
Also read: Trump tried to 'corrupt' his own attorney in Mar-a-Lago case: prosecutors
McCallion also thinks that Trump acts like a mob boss who seeks to intimidate judges, jurors and prosecutors and says the FBI should be more proactive in curbing his behavior.
According to DeVega, now that Trump is on the hook for so much money, the possibility that he could sell the nation's secrets to raise money would be a "doomsday scenario."
"Trump was either psychologically a kleptomaniac by taking the top-secret papers down to Mar-a-Lago or he's crazy like a fox. That secret information is an asset. When in trouble, Trump has shown that he is willing to monetize whatever assets he has," McCallion said, adding that Trump is in desperate circumstances and "is extremely vulnerable and potentially receptive to an overture from a hostile foreign state actor."
McCallion is certain that Trump "would sell America's top-secret information if he thought he could get away with it."
"Again, Trump is desperate, so he may run the substantial risk that he will get caught red-handed. The bottom line is that the criminal indictments may continue to multiply as Trump continues to push the envelope and monetize whatever assets and information that he has."
Read the full interview over at Salon.
