Donald Trump has booked a one-way ticket to prison, and the judge overseeing his ongoing criminal trial in New York said Monday he was prepared to send him there at any time.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan began the fourth week of Trump’s trial with a speech more than a year in the making explaining why he hasn’t yet thrown the politician in jail – making what he called his final warning to the first. president.
“I will find you guilty of criminal contempt for the tenth time,” Merchan said sternly. “It appears that the $1,000 fines are not a deterrent. Therefore, in the future, this court must consider a sanction of imprisonment. Mr. Trump, it is important to understand that the last thing I needed to do was put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States, and maybe the next one too.
Trump continues to ignore the judge’s order barring him from speaking publicly about witnesses and jurors in a threatening manner, which the former president continues to do on social media anyway. Mercan last week fined Trump $9,000 for nine separate violations of a previous hush order — a step he took only after issuing repeated warnings.
Trump pays $9,000 fine for intimidating jurors, witnesses
But the American public continues to wonder where this judge will draw the line. During Trump’s bank fraud trial last year, a civil judge whose courtroom is just a block away also punished the politician repeatedly for ignoring a silence order and continuing to utter threats against this judge’s law clerk. But in that separate case, Judge Arthur F. Engoron continued to threaten to send Trump to prison temporarily, but never did so.
However, the stakes in Merchan’s courtroom are much higher. The former president faces 34 charges and up to four years in prison. Allowing him – or any defendant – to threaten witnesses, jurors, court personnel and prosecutors sets a shocking precedent for the nation’s justice system.
And that’s exactly why Merchan detailed his reasoning during a speech to the court Monday morning, explaining the monumental considerations at play when it comes to whether he should be the first justice to send a former U.S. president to prison without even waiting for a guilty verdict from a jury.
“Taking this action would disrupt these procedures…I also worry about the people who would have to carry out this sanction: court clerks…the Secret Service and others.” I worry about them…I am also aware of the concerns about the broader implications of this prison sanction. The magnitude of this decision is not lost on me. But at the end of the day, I have a job to do, and that job is to protect the dignity of the justice system,” Merchan said.
Trump’s incessant outbursts and violent rhetoric outside the courtroom, Merchan emphasized, “constitute a direct attack on the rule of law.” I cannot allow this to continue. So while I don’t want to impose that jail sentence…I want you to understand that I will do so if necessary and appropriate.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
Get the Daily Beast’s biggest scoops and scandals delivered straight to your inbox. Register now.
Stay informed and get unlimited access to The Daily Beast’s unrivaled reporting. Subscribe now.
yahoo
