Ex-federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, now a legal analyst and frequent face on MSNBC, is putting forward the possibility of the judge using former President Donald Trump’s currently unfolding gag order debacles against him at any sentencing amid the underlying context for all of this: Trump’s criminal case in New York.
A second hearing on allegations from prosecutors of Trump violating the order is coming up next week. Prosecutors were seeking financial penalties on the former president and pushing for the judge to reiterate to the political figure-turned-criminal defendant that detention remains a possibility for future findings of contempt.
“Trump gag order options in addition to fine/jail: – put a monitor over his use of social media posts – hold sentence on a contempt finding until after trial over – advise Trump that his contempt of gag order can be considered at sentencing upon conviction. All can be used by Judge Merchan,” Weissmann wrote on X (formerly called Twitter).
Merchan already held one hearing on allegations from prosecutors around Trump’s treatment of the gag order, but Merchan has yet to rule decisively on the dispute, although he did express serious skepticism during the earlier hearing at an insistence from a Trump lawyer that the ex-president/his team really were working diligently to comply with the directives. The order, which came amid a criminal case accusing Trump of falsifying business records in connection to hush money from before the 2016 elections, protects witnesses, jurors, and others, and prosecutors are singling out commentary including comments made recently by Trump in the courthouse that were disparaging towards Michael Cohen.
