Judge Merchan who is presiding over the Trump Hush Money Trial found former President Donald Trump in contempt for violating the Court’s gag order in the case. Trump’s lawyers have argued the gag order is Constitutionally impermissible. For the first time, on record, Judge Merchan warned the former President that jail could be a consequence of continued willful violations of the gag order.
The violations of the gag order center around social media tweets the President has made about potential witnesses and, at times, court personnel. “This highlights a situation where the client doesn’t want to follow the rules a Court puts in place for trial,” said Chicago Criminal and Immigration Attorney John Heiderscheidt.
“Because this situation hasn’t happened before, we really don’t have much in the way of binding precedent to help the Court figure out how to handle the situation. Although jail has been mentioned by the Court, it seems an extraordinary step. I doubt the Court would do more than something symbolic, like a temporary hold in a courthouse cell for a few hours. But even a symbolic hold would be enormously impactful from a political and precedential perspective.”
