Today, during former President Donald Trump’s criminal trail on falsifying business documents, Judge Juan Merchan warned that the next time he violates the gag order he will go to jail
Merchan issued the original gag order before Trump’s trial started based on his behavior during the E. Jean Carroll case. The gag order bars Trump from criticizing or harassing witnesses, the jury, court staff, and lawyers for the prosecution. The judge later expanded that order to cover his own family members after Trump attacked his daughter over her consulting work with Democratic candidates and progressive causes.
Trump is free to criticize the Judge and New York Attorney General Alan Bragg.
According to today’s trial transcript:
“Defendant violated the Order by making public statements about the jury and how it was selected, In doing so, Defendant not only called into question the integrity, and therefore the legitimacy of these proceedings, but again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones.
“Mr. Trump, it’s important you understand, the last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well. The magnitude of this decision is not lost on me but at the end of the day I have a job to do,” So as much as I don’t want to impose a jail sanction … I want you to understand that I will if necessary and appropriate.
“(B)ecause this is now the tenth time that this Court has found Defendant in criminal contempt, spanning three separate motions, it is apparent that monetary fines have not, and will not, suffice to deter Defendant from violating this Court’s lawful orders,” Merchan wrote. “THEREFORE, Defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration.”
Under ordinary circumstances a defendant would be sent to jail after one or two violations.
Legal exerts predict that the judge is serious about sending Trump to jail if he violates the gag order for the eleventh time but that he might only be restricted to a room in the courthouse for a few hours. If Trump violates the order for a twelfth time the judge might send Trump to jail over night.