Judge Juan Merchan Donald Trump was found in contempt of court Tuesday for repeatedly violating a hush-money order in the former president’s hush money case in New York. Merchan fined Trump a total of $9,000 for violating the order barring public comment about court staff, prosecutors, potential jurors or the judge’s family — and lamented that state law New York prevented him from imposing a harsher sanction.
Penalizing Trump $1,000 for each offense “will unfortunately not achieve the desired result,” the judge said, adding that the court “must therefore consider whether, in some cases, prison may be a necessary punishment.” .
In other words, if Trump continues to speak or post on Truth Social about witnesses against him — including Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and fixer, and Stormy Daniels, the porn star whose alleged secret payment before the 2016 election is the main basis of the lawsuit – then Merchan could order Trump’s incarceration.
Trump’s team, however, is prepared to accept such an order and has a plan in place to keep him out of prison if one were to be issued. Two people close to the case say rolling stone that several Trump advisers and lawyers have informed the former president of the plan, which involves rushing to file an emergency habeas corpus petition that they are convinced would secure an emergency stay of a possible order of contempt. One of the sources calls the plan Trump’s “jailbreak” strategy.
The sources say Trump’s advisers told him they believed the reprieve would be granted before New York authorities were able to resolve the logistical nightmare of getting Trump into a jail cell while he always an armed Secret Service agent with him. Trump would never have to wear a jumpsuit during the criminal trial, even if he were remanded, at least one lawyer close to the former president assured him. (rolling stone reported last year that Trump had been privately horrified at the thought of having to wear “one of those suits.”)
Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead lawyer in the criminal trial, declined to comment Tuesday evening on the plan to keep Trump out of prison if Merchan remanded him into custody. But when asked for comment, Alina Habba, another Trump attorney and legal spokesperson, said only: “The allegations and gag order against President Trump constitute baseless election interference and we are confident that the truth will prevail.” »
Of course, it’s unclear whether Merchan will remand Trump to pretrial detention — even if Trump continues to flout the gag order.
“If there is evidence of a dual system of justice, it is the fact that Donald Trump avoided being held in contempt and imprisoned in this case, unlike any other criminal defendant who would have been remanded in custody a long time ago,” says Bradley Moss. a lawyer specializing in national security and government transparency issues. “The only universe in which I expect a contempt order to involve prison time is if Donald Trump is found guilty at trial and Judge Merchan incorporates that contempt finding into a ruling sentencing.”
Trump gambled that Merchan would not impose any significant sanctions for his violations. rolling stone reported earlier this month that Trump had privately boasted that he could attack Merchan’s daughter without repercussions because he had tested judges and prosecutors in the past with silence orders without serious consequences – including last fall when Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over Trump’s civil fraud trial, threatened him with prison time.
Merchan’s punishment on Tuesday is the harshest Trump has faced, and Trump’s team removed Truth Social posts deemed violations by the 2:15 p.m. deadline Merchan gave them to do so . Merchan will hold another hearing Thursday to review four additional cases in which prosecutors say Trump violated the gag order.
Trump and his team, at least for now, still view the gag order as a political tool. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee regularly tried to rally support around the idea that Democrats wanted him imprisoned, and his team began raising money to finance Merchan’s contempt ruling almost immediately afterward. his delivery, sending an all-caps email to his supporters explaining how he was doing. to be “silenced”.
Trump expanded on Truth Social later Tuesday. “This judge has taken away my constitutional right to FREEDOM OF EXPLANATION,” he wrote. “I am the only presidential candidate in history to be gagged. This entire “trial” is rigged, and by taking away my FREEDOM OF EXPLANATION, THIS VERY CONFLICT JUDGE IS CHEATING THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!
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