A lot of people want Trump brought to justice for any and all crimes he committed while he was president—including this writer. But according to Business Insider, even some ardent Trump critics hope it can be done without relying on people who could be, on paper, valuable witnesses—Trump’s Secret Service detail.
Given the nature of their jobs, Secret Service agents can get very deep inside the lives of presidents, vice presidents, and their families. So they would be star witnesses in any criminal case against a president, right? Well, even one of Trump’s biggest gadflies, Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, hopes it doesn’t go that far.
There's no telling "what kind of illegal or unethical activity the Trump family has engaged in" in the presence of Secret Service agents, Donald Sherman, deputy director of the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told Insider.
But compelling Secret Service agents to testify against any former president — Trump included — is "incredibly risky and shouldn't be considered or pursued without the utmost caution and consideration of the potential benefits," Sherman said.
"We shouldn't let the Trump family's gross abuse of power lead us down a road that undermines the Secret Service's role and function, which is critical to our democracy," Sherman added. "You're creating a risk that presidents or their family will duck or voluntarily shoo Secret Service protection that's there for a reason.
Whitewater established the precedent that Secret Service agents can be forced to testify against sitting presidents, and legal experts believe anyone serving on the Secret Service detail protecting Trump as a former president can be forced to testify as well. But Sherman clearly thinks that while prosecutors can force Secret Service agents to testify, it doesn’t mean they should.
A number of former Secret Service agents are of that mind as well. Like Jim Funk, who spent 21 years with the Secret Service, during which he served on the details for Bush 41 and Clinton. He believes that when courts ruled Secret Service agents could be compelled to testify, it was a “slippery slope,” especially considering the nature of their mission.
"In order for us to do our job, we need to be close to the president in some capacity," Funk said. "And the president — and rightfully so — is going to be very concerned about that proximity in vehicles, especially if agents are privy to conversations" they might later be forced to testify on.
Fortunately, it’s very likely that Trump’s pursuers, both at the federal and state level, won’t need to rely on Secret Service testimony in order to nail Trump. Cyrus Vance, Fani Willis, and the other prosecutors leading criminal probes into Trump likely have enough evidence already that they probably won’t need to take such a step. But it says a lot about the norms that were shattered under Trump that we even have to consider the prospect of Secret Service agents as witnesses.