What's the purpose of a gag order...
What's the purpose of a gag order if you're defiant and have a string of lawyers and followers supporting you?I'm reading that Trump, despite all the warnings from the judges believes it's political because he's leading in the polls for the next presidential election. He's so confident that he can say and do literally anything he wants.
Every article I've read about his behavior this month always has reader comments that believe he should be reeled in. Why is he so special, when anyone else out on bail with a gag order who doesn't follow the instructions of the court gets to sit in jail a few days and it the offense is serious enough, they get to stay 'on ice' until the trial date.
Yeah... that's what I've been reading.
Comments (28)
thought it was to keep the house quiet while the football game is on.
Trump pushes the boundaries in the sure knowledge that, having incited one rebellion, that he can incite another should he have his pretrial release revoked.
It's perhaps assumed by observers on both sides of the divide that the justice system is too scared to confront his behaviour in the proper manner.
Personally, I've been rather agog at the cleverness of the prosecutorial lawyering, and as such, I have no reason to believe that the advantages and privileges currently bestowed on Trump are a matter of neglect, error, or foolishness.
That is inciting a violent act, he just be imprisoned until the next court case.
That is inciting a violent act, he just be imprisoned until the next court case.
Trump has repeatedly attacked Judge Chutkin since she issued the order, at his rally and in his media posts, including one comment that I view as a thinly veiled racial slur.
If he did this, as inappropriate as it is, he may not have broken the conditions f the gag order and his pretrial release.
This was stated on a story about his NYC fraud trial:
On his way in, the Republican frontrunner for president derided James and the presiding judge in comments to reporters, describing the sweeping fraud case against him and his top executives as “a witch hunt by a radical lunatic attorney general.”
“We built a great company — a lot of cash, it’s got a lot of great assets, some of the greatest real estate assets, anywhere in the world,” Trump said.
Trump is under two gag orders. On Monday, D.C. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over his Jan. 6 case, ruled that he can no longer intimidate potential witnesses and threaten Special Counsel Jack Smith or his family and staff.
It followed a gag order Judge Arthur Engoron issued two days into his fraud trial, when Trump went after his principal law clerk on Truth Social.
After proceedings wrapped for the day, AG James said Trump could “rant and rave” and call her names, but none of it would change the fact that “he built his empire on lies” and is not worth as much as he claims.
“Mr. Trump may lie, but numbers don’t lie,” James said. “Mr. Trump’s entire empire is built on nothing but lies. Sinking sand.”
Link:
This was stated on a story about his NYC fraud trial:
On his way in, the Republican frontrunner for president derided James and the presiding judge in comments to reporters, describing the sweeping fraud case against him and his top executives as “a witch hunt by a radical lunatic attorney general.”
“We built a great company — a lot of cash, it’s got a lot of great assets, some of the greatest real estate assets, anywhere in the world,” Trump said.
Trump is under two gag orders. On Monday, D.C. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over his Jan. 6 case, ruled that he can no longer intimidate potential witnesses and threaten Special Counsel Jack Smith or his family and staff.
It followed a gag order Judge Arthur Engoron issued two days into his fraud trial, when Trump went after his principal law clerk on Truth Social.
After proceedings wrapped for the day, AG James said Trump could “rant and rave” and call her names, but none of it would change the fact that “he built his empire on lies” and is not worth as much as he claims.
“Mr. Trump may lie, but numbers don’t lie,” James said. “Mr. Trump’s entire empire is built on nothing but lies. Sinking sand.”
Link:
The gag order imposed by Judge Engoron protects court staff. I don't think AG James is court staff, just as Judge Chutkan isn't court staff.
Trump is doing exactly the same thing as he was before, except the gag orders are so narrow he's able to endanger and harass without breachng those orders.
It's frustrating, it's painfully slow and it's likey pretty scary for all those involved in Trump's various prosecutions, but I have complete faith that Trump will get the due process he is entitled to without error of judgement, other than his own.
Each time the justice system tries to de-escalate, Trump will inevitably escalate because escalation is a big part of his modus operandi.
They can't predict how he will escalate in any given moment, but out of respect and recognition of his presidential campaign and the democratic process as a whole, the justice system can't help but to give him more rope than any other citizen would normally have. It's really important that the justice system isn't guilty of the same, or similar crimes that Trump is accused of, and indicted for.
The question is, given his obvious display of cunning and guile, does Trump have the wit not to hang himself?
Crimes are solved because of the mistakes people make, not the 'perfect' bits.
Each time the justice system tries to de-escalate, Trump will inevitably escalate because escalation is a big part of his modus operandi.
They can't predict how he will escalate in any given moment, but out of respect and recognition of his presidential campaign and the democratic process as a whole, the justice system can't help but to give him more rope than any other citizen would normally have. It's really important that the justice system isn't guilty of the same, or similar crimes that Trump is accused of, and indicted for.
The question is, given his obvious display of cunning and guile, does Trump have the wit not to hang himself?
Crimes are solved because of the mistakes people make, not the 'perfect' bits.
As the Shakespearean saying goes "Hoisted by his own petard".
He fined Trump $5,000—the first time the former president has been materially punished by a judge for his repeated, incendiary social media posts—and accepted that the violation was “inadvertent” but warned that future punishment could include jail time."
The Daily Beast and several other international media sources.
I would have thought jail was Trump's room 101 and that it's far more likely that he thinks it could never happen to him.
If it's Trump Tower, I predict a rush of Repunzel memes.
If it's Trump Tower, I predict a rush of Repunzel memes.
Trump wants to become a historical figure, and doesn't care how he gets the recognition.
What better way of notoriety than being the named person to start a US Civil War?
Trump wants to become a historical figure, and doesn't care how he gets the recognition.
What better way of notoriety than being the named person to start a US Civil War?
I honestly think he'll lose his marbles if he get's jailed.
He's not familiar with the idea of sacrifice for personal gain, nor delayed gratification, either. That much is clear from the civil fraud case where he manipulated figures both ways for gain at both ends.
If he wanted to go to prison, he could have breached the gag orders with apomb, rather than skirting around the edge of them.
He just wants to flout and get away with it.
The gag orders are way too narrow for a breach of his first amendment rights to be credible.
What a silly thing to say.
But that would expedite things, and T-Rump's game is The Stall. More likely, he will cuss out the judge in court and then try to appeal a contempt charge.
During a temporary stay of the order, Trump posted on Truth Social content that woud have violated the order had it not been temporarily stayed for the administrative purpose of briefing the parties on Trump's motion:
Judge Chutkin denied Jack Smith's motion to make the gag order a condition of his pretrial release, stating in a foonote of her ruling:
That means Jack Smith can ask again, but it gives her options, including revoking his pretrial release in the event that Trump breaches the order. As financial penalties have failed to inhibit Trump's breaches of his gag order in hs civil fraud case and his behavioural history there can be taken into account in this case, it's unlikely that her next move will be to impose a financial penalty of a similar order of manitude.
It's perhaps also unlikely that she'll revoke his pretrial release on the first breach since reimposing the order, as she's clearly building a record of his recidivist behaviour before doing that.
About an hour after the order was reimposed, Trump posted on Truth Social:
It's likely that there will be an evidentiary hearing fairly soon to confirm that Trump knew he was subject to the reimposed order when he breached it. Judge Chutkan will have informed Trump's lawyers that she was about to lift the temporary stay and will have expected confirmation that he had been informed before releasing her ruling.
Trump later posted:
I like the one where where he cried this is America and he's not allowed to have a jury trial... standing beside him is his attorney who NEGLECTED to check the box requesting a jury trial. It's HER FAULT and he's lied telling the press that he wasn't allowed to have a jury.
Several times he's whined/lied about something and no one standing around him peeps a single word to correct him.
I like the one where where he cried this is America and he's not allowed to have a jury trial... standing beside him is his attorney who NEGLECTED to check the box requesting a jury trial. It's HER FAULT and he's lied telling the press that he wasn't allowed to have a jury.
Several times he's whined/lied about something and no one standing around him peeps a single word to correct him.
The sequence of events will be on record.
There still has to be an evidentiary hearing to demonstrate he did know.
I imagine Judge Chutkan denying Jack Smith's motion to make the gag order a condition of his pretrial release went to his head.
I imagine Trump assumed that paying $5-10K was worth the defiance, particuarly as his grifting off of hs supporters that would pay for the pocket money sum.
That first footnote in the ruling is rather omninous, however.
I don't think light financial penalties, or detention are the only remedies at Judge Chutkan's disposal and discretion.
“I called Bill Barr Dumb, Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy, a RINO WHO COULDN’T DO THE JOB. He just didn’t want to be Impeached, which the Radical Left Lunatics were preparing to do,” Trump wrote just 75 minutes after the gag order was reinstated. “Bill Barr is a LOSER!”
Link:
Enough to make one gag, innit.