Former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman warned on Monday that the judge presiding over former President Donald Trump's trial faces the possibility of having to jail him if he violates the former president's gag order again. did.
Judge Juan Melchán on Monday found President Trump had violated the gag order for the 10th time, warning that he would consider giving the former president a prison sentence the next time. Tolman said on “America's Newsroom” that if Marchan doesn't want to follow through on Trump's threats and make the former president look weak while emboldening him, he has to put Trump in jail. (Related: Defense lawyer says judge's gag order prevented Trump from responding to Biden's comments on trial)
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“The judge is boxing in his corner at this point,” Tolman said. “He's going to be the one making the threats, and he's going to impose this limited fine, but he's doing it on the premise that the underlying order is unconstitutional. That this is an unconstitutional order. Why doesn't someone in Donald Trump's position, who knows, do everything in their power to tell the American people, why don't they comment, why don't they talk about this case, that it's on appeal? But it's the judge who's putting himself in this position now, and he's going to have to put him in jail because he's threatening it now. Otherwise, he will look reckless and the president will become stronger.”
Judge finds Trump's 10th gag order violation@DailyCaller https://t.co/AgAetkyB9i
— Katelyn Richardson (@katesrichardson) May 6, 2024
“This court will now have to consider a prison sentence,” the judge said.
Marchand recently held Trump in contempt for nine violations of the order, fined him $9,000 and warned that future violations could lead to jail time.
The gag order prohibits President Trump from making comments about witnesses, prosecutors other than the district attorney, court officials, jurors, employees, and the families of district attorneys and judges.
CNN senior political analyst Mark Preston suggested in April that Trump should spend some time in prison, but if a judge decides to send him to prison, it could create discord with President Joe Biden. He also warned that there could be negative consequences.
“I don't think we know, but we're really put between this rock and a hard place, right?” Preston said. “And the rock is, listen, he did something wrong, and if it were any of us sitting at this table, would we be held to a higher standard?” It feels like it. Do we have to go to that detention center? If he were to go into this hole, if that were to happen, I think first of all we would probably see civil unrest in some cities, certainly across the country. That's the one he is. And two, politically, if I were in the Biden camp, I wouldn't necessarily want to see him in prison, because that would just inflame people more and infuriate people even more. I don't think that's necessarily good for the country. Even if it means bending the rules for someone else. ”
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