.-') _ .-') _ | |
( OO ) ) ( OO ) ) | |
.-----. ,--./ ,--,' ,--./ ,--,' | |
' .--./ | \ | |\ | \ | |\ | |
| |('-. | \| | )| \| | ) | |
/_) |OO )| . |/ | . |/ | |
|| |`-'| | |\ | | |\ | | |
(_' '--'\ | | \ | | | \ | | |
`-----' `--' `--' `--' `--' | |
lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Judge finds Donald Trump in contempt for 10th time over gag order and | |
threatens jail time | |
By Jeremy Herb, Kara Scannell, Lauren del Valle, Eric Levenson and | |
Sabrina Souza, CNN | |
Updated: | |
8:56 PM EDT, Mon May 6, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Judge Juan Merchan has found former President Donald Trump in contempt | |
for violating the gag order in for the 10th time and said he’ll | |
consider jail time going forward. | |
“Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction,” | |
Merchan said Monday. | |
“Mr. Trump, it’s important you understand, the last thing I want to | |
do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United | |
States and possibly the next president as well,” Merchan said. | |
“The magnitude of this decision is not lost on me but at the end of | |
the day I have a job to do,” the judge added. “So as much as I | |
don’t want to impose a jail sanction … I want you to understand | |
that I will if necessary and appropriate.” | |
Merchan fined Trump $1,000 for the violation and ordered he pay the | |
fine by close of business Friday. Last week, the for nine previous | |
violations of the judge’s gag order. | |
Violations of the gag order are punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, | |
by jail time of up to 30 days, or both. | |
The gag order blocks the defendant from speaking out about potential | |
witnesses and most people in or associated with the court or the New | |
York district attorney’s office. | |
The contempt order comes several weeks into Trump’s hush money trial | |
in New York. Prosecutors have accused Trump of 34 counts of falsifying | |
business records for allegedly hiding the way Michael Cohen was | |
reimbursed for paying $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in | |
order to keep her quiet before the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not | |
guilty to the charges and denied the affair. | |
In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the gag | |
order “unconstitutional and un-American” and criticized the judge | |
and his ruling. | |
“President Trump has not violated this wrongful edict by a partisan | |
operative,” he said. “The threat to throw the 45th President of the | |
United States and the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential | |
Election in jail for exercising his First Amendment rights is a Third | |
World authoritarian tactic typical of Crooked Joe Biden and his | |
comrades.” | |
Possible options for the judge | |
CNN legal analyst Karen Friedman Agnifilo says Merchan has options that | |
don’t involve putting Trump in prison. For instance, he could start | |
with a short amount of time in detention in the courthouse. | |
“He has several options: for example, he could put him in for a few | |
hours. There is a holding cell behind the courtroom,” she said. | |
“He could put him in for the day. He could put him in over lunch. He | |
could do it like that, as a graduated step towards putting him in | |
overnight.” | |
The US Secret Service, New York State Court Officers and the New York | |
City Department of Corrections continue to look at contingency plans in | |
case Merchan does put Trump in jail for repeatedly violating the gag | |
order. | |
Secret Service agents have been huddling with their counterparts trying | |
to produce a page that has never existed in the manual for protection | |
of a former president: “The jail plan.” | |
What they have gamed out informally, according to law enforcement | |
officials familiar with the ongoing conversations, is a plan that | |
assumes that Merchan sentences Trump to a period of hours “in | |
custody.” A short sentence like that could be served in the | |
courthouse where the trial is being held under the guard of Secret | |
Service and court officers. But a longer sentence, say, one of multiple | |
days, would require the Secret Service to make major adjustments. | |
Law enforcement officials speaking on the condition of anonymity | |
because the matter is still in discussion told CNN that another plan | |
the Secret Service has looked at is asking the judge to remand Trump to | |
the custody of the United States Marshal who would hold Trump at the | |
federal courthouse just south of the New York State courthouse where | |
the trial is being held. On the other hand, if Merchan insisted that | |
Trump be held in New York City custody by the Department of | |
Corrections, arrangements would have to be made that would ensure that | |
Trump was not held in general population, that his food could be | |
screened and that his team of armed Secret Service agents could be on | |
hand, just outside, or perhaps even inside whatever offsite or isolated | |
location Trump might be held in. | |
A spokesman for the New York City Department of Corrections told CNN | |
that they were aware of the possibility and would “make whatever | |
arrangements might be necessary.” | |
Trump spoke about the makeup of the jury | |
The contempt ruling Monday found Trump violated the gag order for his | |
comments about the makeup of the jury in this case. | |
Trump’s comments came in an April 22 interview with a program called | |
“Just the News No Noise” on Real America’s Voice. “You know | |
[the judge is] rushing the trial like crazy. Nobody’s ever seen a | |
thing go like this. That jury was picked so fast — 95% Democrats. | |
The area’s mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a — just a | |
purely Democrat area. It’s a very unfair situation that I can tell | |
you,” Trump said. | |
In a written ruling, the judge said those comments violated the gag | |
order. | |
“Defendant violated the Order by making public statements about the | |
jury and how it was selected,” Merchan wrote. “In doing so, | |
Defendant not only called into question the integrity, and therefore | |
the legitimacy of these proceedings, but again raised the specter of | |
fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones.” | |
The ruling also makes clear the possibility of jail time going forward. | |
“(B)ecause this is now the tenth time that this Court has found | |
Defendant in criminal contempt, spanning three separate motions, it is | |
apparent that monetary fines have not, and will not, suffice to deter | |
Defendant from violating this Court’s lawful orders,” Merchan | |
wrote. “THEREFORE, Defendant is hereby put on notice that if | |
appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will | |
be punishable by incarceration.” | |
Other comments didn’t violate gag order | |
Prosecutors had alleged Trump violated the gag order on four separate | |
occasions, including once about the jury, once about David Pecker and | |
twice about Michael Cohen. The judge ruled that the three other | |
comments did not violate the order. | |
“Under the circumstances here, this Court cannot find beyond a | |
reasonable doubt that the statement in question constituted a veiled | |
threat to Mr. Pecker or to other witnesses,” the judge ruled. | |
This story has been updated with additional details. | |
<- back to index |