Prosecutors running the local criminal case against former President Donald Trump in New York City are asking that he be put under threat of jail-time for potential future violations of a gag order.
The order, imposed by presiding Judge Juan Merchan much to Trump’s outrage, blocks a range of public attacks from the ex-commander-in-chief and current presumptive presidential nominee from Republicans targeting witnesses, jurors, and others. That last category now includes members of the judge’s family, the district attorney’s family, and others after Trump started publicly targeting a daughter of the judge, alleging political conflicts.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office was asking Merchan to “impose a $1k sanction for each of 3 prior posts, order him to take them down, and warn him that further violations will result in jail time. DA notes a 9:12 am post today, potentially made inside the courthouse, also violates the order,” legal analyst Lisa Rubin posted, recapping local prosecutors’ arguments. Merchan has set a hearing on these allegations against Trump for early next week (Tuesday morning).
Merchan actually already threatened Trump with detention in a different context, telling him the possibility was there if he disrupted proceedings or failed to show up, as unlike some of Trump’s recent civil proceedings, his presence for these trial proceedings on criminal charges is evidently demanded. Trump has a history of disruptions during trial, spurring a threat from federal Judge Lewis Kaplan of his expulsion during a recent trial stemming from civil claims against the ex-president from writer E. Jean Carroll. That trial was over rather quickly — much quicker than this criminal trial might eventually end — so that prospect never resulted in much in terms of consequences directly imposed on the incessantly antagonistic former president.
And Trump was also already found to have violated a gag order elsewhere in New York City’s state courts amid the civil fraud case from state Attorney General Letitia James.
