As the old saying goes, nothing is certain in life except death and taxes—and also that Donald Trump will violate whatever gag order a judge has imposed on him time, time, time, and again.
Yes, apparently suffering from a medical condition in which he is unable to keep the thoughts he has about various witnesses and jurors inside his head, the ex-president once again defied a gag order set by Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing the hush money trial in Manhattan. In this case, the violation involved disparaging comments Trump made about jurors during a phone interview last month with Real America’s Voice, claiming the jury had been selected “so fast” and was “mostly all Democrat,” adding, “It’s a very unfair situation.” And as Merchan made clear on Monday, he is beyond sick of this shit.
Days after fining Trump $9,000 for nine other gag order violations, Merchan wrote in his most recent order holding the former president in contempt, “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.” Speaking to Trump directly in the courtroom, Merchan told him: “It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction. Mr. Trump, it’s important to 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 one as well.”
Last year, Trump was fined $15,000 for violating a gag order imposed during his civil fraud trial in New York. On Thursday, he lied about what Merchan’s order actually does, telling reporters it prohibits him from testifying in his own defense, which of course it does not.
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Should Trump actually be sentenced to jail time, he would likely be locked up at the notorious Rikers Island, where, coincidentally, the former CFO of the Trump Organization is currently doing time for perjury. As The Daily Beast notes, such a prospect would be a logistical nightmare:
What is clear, however, is that incarcerating Trump would be an incredibly dicey proposition. For starters, as Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told The Daily Beast, Trump is entitled to round-the-clock protection even if he’s in jail. And having a coterie of armed bodyguards inside a city jail, according to former New York City Department of Correction commissioner Martin Horn, runs completely counter to the no-firearms policy that is standard in New York and across the nation. (Guns are carried by officers, for example, while transporting inmates, by those patrolling outside the walls, and by members of special units that respond to emergencies inside.)
Furthermore, Horn told The Daily Beast, housing Trump by himself in an otherwise empty facility could constitute solitary confinement, which is outlawed in New York.
Luckily for the ex-president, it seems extremely unlikely that his inability to stop attacking people involved in the trial will actually result in a meaningful punishment. “Any defendant, 77 years old, with no prior criminal convictions—a nonviolent crime, not addicted to drugs, not likely to commit another crime—it would not be appropriate to send him to jail, even though the statute permits it,” Horn told The Daily Beast. “It’s not mandatory, and it’s highly unlikely. The statute allows for other sentences: probation, conditional discharge, a fine. I think jail is highly unlikely.”
Lara Trump lays the groundwork to claim the 2024 election was stolen
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Report: Kristi Noem was told years ago her dog-killing story was a bad idea
From the people who published her previous book. Per Politico:
Kristi Noem’s story about killing her dog made headlines across America. But it wasn’t news to people who worked on her first book, where the tale made it into a draft of the memoir before the publishing team nixed it.
Then, as now, Noem wanted the story in because it showed a decisive person who was unwilling to be bound by namby-pamby niceties, while others on the team—which included agents, editors, and publicists at Hachette Book Group’s prestige Twelve imprint, and a ghostwriter—saw it as a bad-taste anecdote that would hurt her brand. The tale was ultimately cut, according to two people involved with the project.
Unfortunately for the puppy-slayer, the same did not happen the next time around.
Trump—who has literally said he wants to be a dictator—claims Joe Biden is running a Nazi-esque organization
Big words from the guy who has also reportedly claimed Hitler did “a lot of good things.” Per The New York Times:
“These people are running a Gestapo administration,” Mr. Trump told donors who attended the event at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, according to an audio recording obtained by The New York Times. “And it’s the only thing they have. And it’s the only way they’re going to win, in their opinion, and it’s actually killing them. But it doesn’t bother me.”
In response to Trump’s remarks, the White House said in a statement: “Instead of echoing the appalling rhetoric of fascists, lunching with Neo Nazis, and fanning debunked conspiracy theories that have cost brave police officer their lives, President Biden is bringing the American people together around our shared democratic values and the rule of law — an approach that has delivered the biggest violent crime reduction in 50 years.”
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The post Trump Once Again Threatened With Jail Time for Once Again Violating Gag Order appeared first on Vanity Fair.