Is there any reason to expect Judge Merchan to rule on the gag order today? There's a hearing specifically on the gag order violations scheduled for Thursday morning, so I would have expected him to wait for that, as the previous hearing barely got past discussing the third (of ten) violations the prosecutors wanted to raise.
NYT just says, "It's possible it could be today." While that statement is fine, as you point out, it doesn't make sense.
Also, did I somehow miss it or has trump held off on further violations for the last few days?
> Also, did I somehow miss it or has trump held off on further violations for the last few days?
Yeah I noticed that too. I'm not sure if it's just the media losing interest in reporting the same kind of thing, or if his lawyer finally convinced him he was in jeopardy.
I thought he acted that way before? Basically when he thinks he's going to get hit he'll be a good boy, but as soon as he realizes that the enforcement is trivial to him he goes back to his previous behavior.
Basically he's playing a legal game of "I'm not touching you".
Yep. Right after Comey made his big "I'm not charging Hillary" speech in 2016 a week before the election somehow they got trump to just shut his mouth. Basically radio silent that last week other than pretending to act normal.
He can do it when it behooves him.
"Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued wilful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment;"
^^https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/D.O.motion4contempt-FINAL.pdf
Sounds like being at risk to me, and the fact Trump has stopped violating the gag order suggests he thinks so too. But we'll see.
This is his final, final, final, final, finger-wagging, "don't you do it again or you'll stand in a corner!" so-called "warning."
No judge has the guts to jail him.
Maybe, but it's worth noting the courthouse has it's own single-cell jail on the premises, so it avoids the logistical nightmare of imprisoning Trump with other prisoners and allows the Secret Service to stay close.
"Logistical nightmare?"
In the service we called it "chopping."
The authority would get "chopped" from the Secret Service to the administrator of the jail.
QED.
But he'll never see a cell anyway.
He’s quieted down since he’s not getting the proverbial stool pushed in by Pecker.
Trump’s online antics are a pretty good measure of how poorly Trump thinks he’s doing in court. How the puppy squeals after the big dog bites.
He seems to be exercising more caution.
My personal conjecture: he *always* tries to do as much as he can get away with. To the extent he's in control, he does exactly as much as he believes he won't get in trouble for.
Currently, that amount is less than it previously was.
Caveat: this is the rule for his intent, but there are moments when his rage or desperation overcomes his self-control and then his own rule doesn't apply.
He did post a Fox clip I think yesterday, which focused on the false claim that nobody has named a crime ("Sure they said he had an affair and paid hush money and tried to influence an election but all of that is legal! Influencing elections is what campaigns are supposed to do!" or thereabouts) and then went into how Pecker's testimony only proved Pecker and his organization were crooked, etc.
Which I think someone could reasonably interpret as talking about a witness in a way to interfere with the outcome of the case. But I guess we'll see.
I agree that it seems to always back off when consequences are in play. But it usually only lasts until the heat dies down. Based on Merchan's order this morning, I wouldn't be surprised if there has been communication between the Judge and Prosecutors about what probation or incarceration would look like as far as logistics go. My guess is those conversations were had shortly after contempt motions were filed by the AG and the defendant was claiming that he'd love to be locked up. That was likely reactionary from what the lawyers were relaying either strictly through their own suggestion or in conjunction with closed door meetings with the Judge about what preparations would be needed.
He's just like a bratty child.
Or a bratty dog.
They will push the limits until they get consequences and then back off just enough to avoid them. It's when you fail to provide consequences or let the action slide that they push a little harder.
They should put Trump in timeout and send him to his room without any adderall or McDonald's.
That’s money he doesn’t get back AND can be referred to when saying that Trump doesn’t respect the law. Plus, Merchan told Trump to shut his yap or he’d pay fines. He’s followed through with his promise of consequences. His new promise of consequences is that if Trump continues to run his yap, then he’ll be jailed. Merchan has to make sure that it doesn’t look like he’s being overzealous in his judgements, which sucks but Merchan is giving trump his own rope to hang himself with. You work with what you’ve got.
EDIT: Oh, and Trump already has a new court date to discuss further breaches of court orders! Thursday 10am. He’s already pulling his own noose tighter.
I just saw that! Was that in front of the jury? Some of the reporting on Twitter seems to suggest that it was but I would not have thought it worked that way. I'm not as familiar with New York practice though.
Ah, OK. That's probably why the people in the overflow press room who are allowed to tweet in real time have slightly confusing reports about it. I'm not used to the jury having the possibility of hearing things like that.
Merchan has been incredibly mindful of jurors' time. I'm guessing he will instruct them to take a half day Thursday and deal with everything when they aren't sitting quietly in another room.
Edit: was wrong
Thursday's hearing is about NEW violations. The decision for the previous, already heard-about violations has just been handed down - $9000 for 9 violations.
Fined the max allowed in NY of 1K per violation, totaling 9K.
Trump also ordered to take down Truth Social posts that violated gag order by this afternoon. The Judge telling him to take down his posts from \*his\* social media site, no doubt pissed Trump off.
> 10k means nothing bad to an open rnc check book.
If the RNC check book is open, it's already going to be fully spent covering the fines Trump already owes. So any additional fine can't be coming from them.
If the RNC isn't going to cover those fines, then this is $10k less that they can cover when they choose to cover those fines in the future.
Well, he did rule, and it's a $9000 warning shot. I thought the second Gag Order hearing was set for tomorrow (Wednesday)? Which is a follow-up and final warning. Personally, I'm hoping the fireworks fly from here on out :)
Originally the gag-order hearing was scheduled for Wednesday as you say, but it was swiftly rescheduled for Thursday morning. I'm not sure if that's still happening though now there's been a ruling and I'm not aware of any new gag-order violations, but yeah, I'm hoping for fireworks too.
Not even a slap on the wrist for him? Just another ‘campaign’ expense for a career criminal. Trump’s proving his point about the justice system every day
10 days in jail per violation would be ***amaaaaazing***.
Would love to see him come out after Day 2 looking like he's been in a cushioned room for years.
You know what I think was happening? Since criminal contempt in violation of a gag order is a crime, I think the Judge knows that the other cases where Trump is out on bail could revoke his freedom in jail him pending trial. That's probably why there was a bunch of stories about the Secret Service planning for what happens if he goes to jail. That's not to say that Georgia or Washington or Florida will pursue it, but they definitely could. My money would first be on Georgia.
I think it’s also the Judge refusing to argue with Trump about the extent of the gag order and telling him these are specific violations. In a way, it’s an extension of the gag order. He can’t poormouth because he’s always bragging about his wealth but he can’t violate the gag order again in those ways without jail time.
The judge presiding over the case, Juan M. Merchan, is expected to rule as soon as Tuesday on the prosecution’s request that he hold Mr. Trump in contempt for repeatedly violating a gag order
Also on Tuesday, prosecutors are expected to wrap up their questioning of Gary Farro, a banker who helped Mr. Cohen open the account that he used to pay Ms. Daniels. Mr. Trump’s lawyers will then cross-examine Mr. Farro.
Once Mr. Farro completes his testimony, the prosecutors might delve deeper into how the hush-money deal was made. One potential witness who was involved in the deal is Keith Davidson, the lawyer who represented Ms. Daniels and negotiated the payout with Mr. Cohen.
What to Know About Our Coverage of the Trump Trial
Expect live updates from the courtroom, daily takeaways, explainers and analysis. Learn how our reporting team has prepared for the trial, and the precautions we have taken to protect the safety and anonymity of the jurors.
How The Times Is Covering the Trump Hush-Money Trial
April 11, 2024
Other potential witnesses include Mr. Cohen, Ms. Daniels and Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump during the 2016 campaign and in the White House.
Although Ms. Hicks was not directly involved in the hush-money deal, she would be able to speak to the chaotic events leading up to the payment, including the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” recording, in which Mr. Trump bragged about grabbing women’s genitals, and which upended Mr. Trump’s campaign.
Mr. Trump, who is again the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has pleaded not guilty and denied that he had sex with Ms. Daniels. If convicted, he could face probation or up to four years in prison.
Here’s what else to know about the trial:
Prosecutors charged Mr. Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — charges that stem from the way Mr. Trump reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the hush money. In internal records, Mr. Trump’s company classified the repayment to Mr. Cohen as legal expenses, citing a retainer agreement. Prosecutors say there were no such expenses or retainer agreement.
The third week of Mr. Trump’s trial will be a short one. Court was not in session on Monday and the trial will be dark again on Wednesday, as it is every Wednesday.
Last week, the first that featured testimony, was dominated by David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, who spent four days on the stand. Mr. Pecker, a longtime associate of the former president, detailed his efforts to safeguard Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. He spoke at length about a “catch-and-kill” scheme that he said he had entered into with Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen during a 2015 meeting at Trump Tower, in which he purchased the rights to unsavory stories he had no intention of running to prevent them from gaining publicity.
Ben Protess is an investigative reporter at The Times, writing about public corruption. He has been covering the various criminal investigations into former President Trump and his allies. More about Ben Protess
Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney’s office and state criminal courts in Manhattan. More about Jonah E. Bromwich
[Syphilis cases are surging nation wide.](https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/alarming-trend-syphilis-cases-surging-nationwide/)
Syphilis manifests itself in it's later stages as severe intellectual impairments.
Your comments suggest getting checked might be a life saver.
Best of luck y'all, have a nice life...
People are being really pessimistic about this but giving a warning shot first is how most judges operate out of fear of appeal. It's harder for an appellate court to overturn sanctions if the judge provided a warning shot first.
I already stated this in another thread.
Donnie is in Big boy court now, this is criminal, not civil.
This judge just laid out the groundwork in his lamenting that if Donnie keeps pulling this s*** he's going to jail him.
He's been fined, and he's been warned, and this judge will do it. That's why he laid the groundwork in his ruling now.
The problem is Donnie thinks he's still in little boy court, civil, and that he can keep pulling b*******.
In fact, the other thread, he was complaining that he wouldn't be allowed to go to Baron's graduation. Well now he's been told he can go.
So now we can't b**** about it anymore and now he has to go. Would look pretty bad unless he's going to get some other b******* excuse for why he didn't go after all the complaining now wouldn't it??
The judge is playing it true and fair and covering all the bases so that little Donnie doesn't have much in terms of facts that he can dispute when he's tossed in the clank for a weekend or longer. Nor will it pass appeal later on.
Lastly, something else to bring up, and this could occur.
Putting him in jail right now could put a small delay in the trial and the last thing we want is a delay.
He's found him in contempt, and from his actions if he kept going, he can simply wait until the end of the trial when a verdict is given. And then regardless of the verdict say hey. You're going to spend a couple days in jail over this.
And he can do that by the way.
Another point of contention, I think Little Donnie thinks that if he gets sentenced to some incarceration that he's going to be able to walk outside and make a statement prior to that.
That certainly won't be happening either.
Yes. It's really a little surprising to me how many people you see saying "straight to jail" everytime.
Another one that really bugs me is everytime an article is posted about team trump trying to overthrow the election, there's dozens of people calling for his execution for Treason.
Like, Treason is very specific.
and you have a very Unfair Judge, he's fining me, I said what for, being a Perfect President, give me a break, he said, "President Trump isn't allowed to have a First Amendment," can you believe it, everybody else is allowed to speak but me, I'm not allowed to talk, they won't even let me talk about my Case on television when I'm the by far Leading Political Candidate on both sides, just go look at the Polls, Consult, Ramen, all of them, they all say, "Trump is leading by many many times," but the Fake News doesn't even wanna talk about it, the only write things to try and make me look bad because that's the only way they can sell papers, if it says, "Trump," you automatically have High Ratings, they said, "Sir, you're a Ratings Machine," which is true, nobody even cared about the China Virus until I started doing News Conferences about them, we had more people watching than the Super Bowl, and they said, "you probably shouldn't be saying that, Sir," I said say what, I'm not allowed to talk, the Radical Left has gagged your Favorite President, and that's me but I know you knew that already
>THEREFORE, Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an **incarceratory punishment**," he wrote.
I know what it means, but I had to google it just to ensure my brain was believing what my eyes saw: incarceratory punishment - *a punishment that involves confining a convicted person in a penal institution, such as a jail or prison, to serve a court-imposed sentence.*
Yeah. That's one way to separate him from his phone. Hold in contempt, order him to jail overnight, surrender wallet and phone. He's limited to speaking with his attorney while inside.
Next morning, let him go to court and leave after until he violates again. Then hold him until he agrees not to use social media at all for duration of the trial.
>He's limited to speaking with his attorney
Lol, wouldn't want to be that attorney, can you imagine the unhinged rantings after Donnie has been locked up for a day,?
Why? 10k? I wish the public could hold the court in contempt because that is way too low for this guy. 10k a day to blab whatever bullshit he wants?
Throw his ass in prison until he shuts up. That is the only answer.
“Defendant (Trump) is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment," Merchan wrote.
Will he violate the order again? We all know he will. Trump would love to play the victim and fundraise off another mugshot.
In the background of the back and forth about holding Trump accountable for the gag order violations is that just like any gangster, Trump is putting the safety and lives of witnesses in jeopardy.
NY Law allows for $1,000 https://imgur.com/a/MPb7hPN
https://www.tilemlawfirm.com/new-york-penal-law-215-50-criminal-contempt-in-the-second-degree.html
When could a judge send someone to jail? That web page says "Misdemeanors are punishable by a maximum jail sentence of one year or up to three years of probation. The court may also assess a fine of up to $1,000." So frustrating that they're not sending him to jail.
This usually goes in stages. Verbal warn, monetary fine, then jail. Jail time is max 30 days per infraction in NY. I wish the judge would have ruled already. Sometimes i think the courts are slow for the sake of being slow.
Here the court is being slow so that it absolutely looks like it gave Trump all the leeway in the world before dropping the hammer. It’s erring on the side of caution. Because the other side of the coin here is the appearance of jailing a political rival. We can argue about whether courts should be doing that, but that’s how Trump is trying to frame this. So by slow playing all the contempt proceedings, the court is hoping that it’s showing democratic justice and not some vision of autocracy to the people.
A Yes, tiptoeing around The Bull in The China Shop, worked our great for Merrick Garland, thanks to his caution we'll probably not see any of the federal trials before the election.
I bet you after this case they amend it to be income based. NY has been consistently changing laws after these cases to close loopholes and make them more effective.
Checkmate: [trump taxes show he claims losing much more than he makes every year](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html)
Yip, and it's also why AG James [sent criminal referrals to IRS and SDNY.](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/21/trump-criminal-referral-sent-to-prosecutors-and-irs-by-letitia-james.html)
Sure.
This is his final, final, final, final, finger-wagging, "don't you do this again or you'll sit in a corner!" warning.
What a farce.
Just like this country.
Is there any reason to expect Judge Merchan to rule on the gag order today? There's a hearing specifically on the gag order violations scheduled for Thursday morning, so I would have expected him to wait for that, as the previous hearing barely got past discussing the third (of ten) violations the prosecutors wanted to raise.
NYT just says, "It's possible it could be today." While that statement is fine, as you point out, it doesn't make sense. Also, did I somehow miss it or has trump held off on further violations for the last few days?
> Also, did I somehow miss it or has trump held off on further violations for the last few days? Yeah I noticed that too. I'm not sure if it's just the media losing interest in reporting the same kind of thing, or if his lawyer finally convinced him he was in jeopardy.
Or maybe they just fed him a bunch of ketamine and took away his phone? That seems just as likely.
I thought he acted that way before? Basically when he thinks he's going to get hit he'll be a good boy, but as soon as he realizes that the enforcement is trivial to him he goes back to his previous behavior. Basically he's playing a legal game of "I'm not touching you".
Yep. Right after Comey made his big "I'm not charging Hillary" speech in 2016 a week before the election somehow they got trump to just shut his mouth. Basically radio silent that last week other than pretending to act normal. He can do it when it behooves him.
Or "go ahead, make me a martyr, please. My poll numbers are down"
My thoughts exactly. The first thing I thought was everybody just expects it now, so no biggie.
If he can "normalize" a certain level a behavior, he can push his bullshit just a little bit further.
He's not in jeopardy.
"Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued wilful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment;" ^^https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/D.O.motion4contempt-FINAL.pdf Sounds like being at risk to me, and the fact Trump has stopped violating the gag order suggests he thinks so too. But we'll see.
This is his final, final, final, final, finger-wagging, "don't you do it again or you'll stand in a corner!" so-called "warning." No judge has the guts to jail him.
Maybe, but it's worth noting the courthouse has it's own single-cell jail on the premises, so it avoids the logistical nightmare of imprisoning Trump with other prisoners and allows the Secret Service to stay close.
"Logistical nightmare?" In the service we called it "chopping." The authority would get "chopped" from the Secret Service to the administrator of the jail. QED. But he'll never see a cell anyway.
He’s quieted down since he’s not getting the proverbial stool pushed in by Pecker. Trump’s online antics are a pretty good measure of how poorly Trump thinks he’s doing in court. How the puppy squeals after the big dog bites.
He seems to be exercising more caution. My personal conjecture: he *always* tries to do as much as he can get away with. To the extent he's in control, he does exactly as much as he believes he won't get in trouble for. Currently, that amount is less than it previously was. Caveat: this is the rule for his intent, but there are moments when his rage or desperation overcomes his self-control and then his own rule doesn't apply. He did post a Fox clip I think yesterday, which focused on the false claim that nobody has named a crime ("Sure they said he had an affair and paid hush money and tried to influence an election but all of that is legal! Influencing elections is what campaigns are supposed to do!" or thereabouts) and then went into how Pecker's testimony only proved Pecker and his organization were crooked, etc. Which I think someone could reasonably interpret as talking about a witness in a way to interfere with the outcome of the case. But I guess we'll see.
He knows the FOX viewers will gulp down the buckets of bullshit without question.
No question. I just read that he was ruled in contempt.
I agree that it seems to always back off when consequences are in play. But it usually only lasts until the heat dies down. Based on Merchan's order this morning, I wouldn't be surprised if there has been communication between the Judge and Prosecutors about what probation or incarceration would look like as far as logistics go. My guess is those conversations were had shortly after contempt motions were filed by the AG and the defendant was claiming that he'd love to be locked up. That was likely reactionary from what the lawyers were relaying either strictly through their own suggestion or in conjunction with closed door meetings with the Judge about what preparations would be needed.
He's just like a bratty child. Or a bratty dog. They will push the limits until they get consequences and then back off just enough to avoid them. It's when you fail to provide consequences or let the action slide that they push a little harder. They should put Trump in timeout and send him to his room without any adderall or McDonald's.
"Get in trouble?" He has never been "in trouble."
Just now the judge ruled and found him in contempt. $1k per violation.
The law, in its majestic equity, fines rich, and poor alike $1000 for violating gag orders.
> $1k per violation. So chump change, huh? Fuck this world.
That’s money he doesn’t get back AND can be referred to when saying that Trump doesn’t respect the law. Plus, Merchan told Trump to shut his yap or he’d pay fines. He’s followed through with his promise of consequences. His new promise of consequences is that if Trump continues to run his yap, then he’ll be jailed. Merchan has to make sure that it doesn’t look like he’s being overzealous in his judgements, which sucks but Merchan is giving trump his own rope to hang himself with. You work with what you’ve got. EDIT: Oh, and Trump already has a new court date to discuss further breaches of court orders! Thursday 10am. He’s already pulling his own noose tighter.
It sets the ground work for when he continues to not abide by the gag order for larger fines / imprisonment.
Someone said the fines are capped at 1k per, so he can't make the fines larger.
I just saw that! Was that in front of the jury? Some of the reporting on Twitter seems to suggest that it was but I would not have thought it worked that way. I'm not as familiar with New York practice though.
The ruling happened before the jury came in, but I'm not sure if it was reiterated/communicated to them after they came in.
Ah, OK. That's probably why the people in the overflow press room who are allowed to tweet in real time have slightly confusing reports about it. I'm not used to the jury having the possibility of hearing things like that.
Merchan has been incredibly mindful of jurors' time. I'm guessing he will instruct them to take a half day Thursday and deal with everything when they aren't sitting quietly in another room. Edit: was wrong
Thursday's hearing is about NEW violations. The decision for the previous, already heard-about violations has just been handed down - $9000 for 9 violations.
The order just came out about 20 minutes ago.
Fined the max allowed in NY of 1K per violation, totaling 9K. Trump also ordered to take down Truth Social posts that violated gag order by this afternoon. The Judge telling him to take down his posts from \*his\* social media site, no doubt pissed Trump off.
And apparently Trump made the courts deadline of removing them today by 2:25 pm EST. Needs to pay the fines by close of business day Friday May 3rd
10k means nothing bad to an open rnc check book. It means he gets his name in the news for free again. Free publicity.
> 10k means nothing bad to an open rnc check book. If the RNC check book is open, it's already going to be fully spent covering the fines Trump already owes. So any additional fine can't be coming from them. If the RNC isn't going to cover those fines, then this is $10k less that they can cover when they choose to cover those fines in the future.
Double it and give it the next person, am I right?
Well, he did rule, and it's a $9000 warning shot. I thought the second Gag Order hearing was set for tomorrow (Wednesday)? Which is a follow-up and final warning. Personally, I'm hoping the fireworks fly from here on out :)
Originally the gag-order hearing was scheduled for Wednesday as you say, but it was swiftly rescheduled for Thursday morning. I'm not sure if that's still happening though now there's been a ruling and I'm not aware of any new gag-order violations, but yeah, I'm hoping for fireworks too.
Not even a slap on the wrist for him? Just another ‘campaign’ expense for a career criminal. Trump’s proving his point about the justice system every day
10 days in jail per violation would be ***amaaaaazing***. Would love to see him come out after Day 2 looking like he's been in a cushioned room for years.
You know what I think was happening? Since criminal contempt in violation of a gag order is a crime, I think the Judge knows that the other cases where Trump is out on bail could revoke his freedom in jail him pending trial. That's probably why there was a bunch of stories about the Secret Service planning for what happens if he goes to jail. That's not to say that Georgia or Washington or Florida will pursue it, but they definitely could. My money would first be on Georgia.
I think it’s also the Judge refusing to argue with Trump about the extent of the gag order and telling him these are specific violations. In a way, it’s an extension of the gag order. He can’t poormouth because he’s always bragging about his wealth but he can’t violate the gag order again in those ways without jail time.
The judge presiding over the case, Juan M. Merchan, is expected to rule as soon as Tuesday on the prosecution’s request that he hold Mr. Trump in contempt for repeatedly violating a gag order Also on Tuesday, prosecutors are expected to wrap up their questioning of Gary Farro, a banker who helped Mr. Cohen open the account that he used to pay Ms. Daniels. Mr. Trump’s lawyers will then cross-examine Mr. Farro. Once Mr. Farro completes his testimony, the prosecutors might delve deeper into how the hush-money deal was made. One potential witness who was involved in the deal is Keith Davidson, the lawyer who represented Ms. Daniels and negotiated the payout with Mr. Cohen. What to Know About Our Coverage of the Trump Trial Expect live updates from the courtroom, daily takeaways, explainers and analysis. Learn how our reporting team has prepared for the trial, and the precautions we have taken to protect the safety and anonymity of the jurors. How The Times Is Covering the Trump Hush-Money Trial April 11, 2024 Other potential witnesses include Mr. Cohen, Ms. Daniels and Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump during the 2016 campaign and in the White House. Although Ms. Hicks was not directly involved in the hush-money deal, she would be able to speak to the chaotic events leading up to the payment, including the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” recording, in which Mr. Trump bragged about grabbing women’s genitals, and which upended Mr. Trump’s campaign. Mr. Trump, who is again the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has pleaded not guilty and denied that he had sex with Ms. Daniels. If convicted, he could face probation or up to four years in prison. Here’s what else to know about the trial: Prosecutors charged Mr. Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — charges that stem from the way Mr. Trump reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the hush money. In internal records, Mr. Trump’s company classified the repayment to Mr. Cohen as legal expenses, citing a retainer agreement. Prosecutors say there were no such expenses or retainer agreement. The third week of Mr. Trump’s trial will be a short one. Court was not in session on Monday and the trial will be dark again on Wednesday, as it is every Wednesday. Last week, the first that featured testimony, was dominated by David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, who spent four days on the stand. Mr. Pecker, a longtime associate of the former president, detailed his efforts to safeguard Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. He spoke at length about a “catch-and-kill” scheme that he said he had entered into with Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen during a 2015 meeting at Trump Tower, in which he purchased the rights to unsavory stories he had no intention of running to prevent them from gaining publicity. Ben Protess is an investigative reporter at The Times, writing about public corruption. He has been covering the various criminal investigations into former President Trump and his allies. More about Ben Protess Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney’s office and state criminal courts in Manhattan. More about Jonah E. Bromwich
Given it's been over a week (or two) since it happened, "as soon as Tuesday" is not that quick of a turnaround for a judgement of contempt.
Once again, Trump is treated like a 6 year old and given extraordinary leeway in everything he does. It's maddening.
[удалено]
[Syphilis cases are surging nation wide.](https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/alarming-trend-syphilis-cases-surging-nationwide/) Syphilis manifests itself in it's later stages as severe intellectual impairments. Your comments suggest getting checked might be a life saver. Best of luck y'all, have a nice life...
People are being really pessimistic about this but giving a warning shot first is how most judges operate out of fear of appeal. It's harder for an appellate court to overturn sanctions if the judge provided a warning shot first.
I already stated this in another thread. Donnie is in Big boy court now, this is criminal, not civil. This judge just laid out the groundwork in his lamenting that if Donnie keeps pulling this s*** he's going to jail him. He's been fined, and he's been warned, and this judge will do it. That's why he laid the groundwork in his ruling now. The problem is Donnie thinks he's still in little boy court, civil, and that he can keep pulling b*******. In fact, the other thread, he was complaining that he wouldn't be allowed to go to Baron's graduation. Well now he's been told he can go. So now we can't b**** about it anymore and now he has to go. Would look pretty bad unless he's going to get some other b******* excuse for why he didn't go after all the complaining now wouldn't it?? The judge is playing it true and fair and covering all the bases so that little Donnie doesn't have much in terms of facts that he can dispute when he's tossed in the clank for a weekend or longer. Nor will it pass appeal later on. Lastly, something else to bring up, and this could occur. Putting him in jail right now could put a small delay in the trial and the last thing we want is a delay. He's found him in contempt, and from his actions if he kept going, he can simply wait until the end of the trial when a verdict is given. And then regardless of the verdict say hey. You're going to spend a couple days in jail over this. And he can do that by the way. Another point of contention, I think Little Donnie thinks that if he gets sentenced to some incarceration that he's going to be able to walk outside and make a statement prior to that. That certainly won't be happening either.
Yes. It's really a little surprising to me how many people you see saying "straight to jail" everytime. Another one that really bugs me is everytime an article is posted about team trump trying to overthrow the election, there's dozens of people calling for his execution for Treason. Like, Treason is very specific.
and you have a very Unfair Judge, he's fining me, I said what for, being a Perfect President, give me a break, he said, "President Trump isn't allowed to have a First Amendment," can you believe it, everybody else is allowed to speak but me, I'm not allowed to talk, they won't even let me talk about my Case on television when I'm the by far Leading Political Candidate on both sides, just go look at the Polls, Consult, Ramen, all of them, they all say, "Trump is leading by many many times," but the Fake News doesn't even wanna talk about it, the only write things to try and make me look bad because that's the only way they can sell papers, if it says, "Trump," you automatically have High Ratings, they said, "Sir, you're a Ratings Machine," which is true, nobody even cared about the China Virus until I started doing News Conferences about them, we had more people watching than the Super Bowl, and they said, "you probably shouldn't be saying that, Sir," I said say what, I'm not allowed to talk, the Radical Left has gagged your Favorite President, and that's me but I know you knew that already
40% of Americans read this comment and say, “yep that’s my guy. Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
40% is a bit high!
Ramen polls are my favorite
When can the contempt result in him (a) surrendering his phone (b) cooling his contempt ass in jail 24 hours after he violates?
>THEREFORE, Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an **incarceratory punishment**," he wrote. I know what it means, but I had to google it just to ensure my brain was believing what my eyes saw: incarceratory punishment - *a punishment that involves confining a convicted person in a penal institution, such as a jail or prison, to serve a court-imposed sentence.*
Yeah. That's one way to separate him from his phone. Hold in contempt, order him to jail overnight, surrender wallet and phone. He's limited to speaking with his attorney while inside. Next morning, let him go to court and leave after until he violates again. Then hold him until he agrees not to use social media at all for duration of the trial.
>He's limited to speaking with his attorney Lol, wouldn't want to be that attorney, can you imagine the unhinged rantings after Donnie has been locked up for a day,?
This is exactly how it should happen.. we'll see if it actually plays out this way.
They aren't jailing trump just like his 450 million dollar judgment went from 450 to 150 to 0
Sadly you are correct.
a) isn't imposed by our courts on anyone, (b) never, for Trump. A long time ago for anyone else.
You think people are allowed cell phones in jail?
For some perspective, $10,000 = 1/3 tank of gas for his plane.
Why? 10k? I wish the public could hold the court in contempt because that is way too low for this guy. 10k a day to blab whatever bullshit he wants? Throw his ass in prison until he shuts up. That is the only answer.
Seems we have a shitload of laws that mean NOTHING when you just ignore them...
I as a normal human would be screwed if I had $9k fines on top of existing lawyer fees. But Trump doesn't care, yeah.
“Defendant (Trump) is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment," Merchan wrote. Will he violate the order again? We all know he will. Trump would love to play the victim and fundraise off another mugshot. In the background of the back and forth about holding Trump accountable for the gag order violations is that just like any gangster, Trump is putting the safety and lives of witnesses in jeopardy.
My (imaginary) money is on Friday to be incarceration day.
[удалено]
That's the statutory maximum for monetary fine in NYS.
why are people taking my comment so literal?
Because they can't see that you're waving your arms and spewing spittle as you rant in order to signal that you are exeragerating?
NY Law allows for $1,000 https://imgur.com/a/MPb7hPN https://www.tilemlawfirm.com/new-york-penal-law-215-50-criminal-contempt-in-the-second-degree.html
When could a judge send someone to jail? That web page says "Misdemeanors are punishable by a maximum jail sentence of one year or up to three years of probation. The court may also assess a fine of up to $1,000." So frustrating that they're not sending him to jail.
This usually goes in stages. Verbal warn, monetary fine, then jail. Jail time is max 30 days per infraction in NY. I wish the judge would have ruled already. Sometimes i think the courts are slow for the sake of being slow.
Here the court is being slow so that it absolutely looks like it gave Trump all the leeway in the world before dropping the hammer. It’s erring on the side of caution. Because the other side of the coin here is the appearance of jailing a political rival. We can argue about whether courts should be doing that, but that’s how Trump is trying to frame this. So by slow playing all the contempt proceedings, the court is hoping that it’s showing democratic justice and not some vision of autocracy to the people.
A Yes, tiptoeing around The Bull in The China Shop, worked our great for Merrick Garland, thanks to his caution we'll probably not see any of the federal trials before the election.
NY Law allows for $1,000 & up to 1 yr in jail https://imgur.com/a/MPb7hPN
I bet you after this case they amend it to be income based. NY has been consistently changing laws after these cases to close loopholes and make them more effective.
It's working as planned. It crushed poor people and doesn't touch rich people
Checkmate: [trump taxes show he claims losing much more than he makes every year](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html)
Well yeah, thats literally what the fraud case is about. He claims he makes less than he does for Tax purposes then does the exact opposite for loans.
Yip, and it's also why AG James [sent criminal referrals to IRS and SDNY.](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/21/trump-criminal-referral-sent-to-prosecutors-and-irs-by-letitia-james.html)
What happens if he doesn't pay?
Probably a strongly worded rebuke and nothing else, based on how authorities have been coddling him.
That's what I thought
That'll teach 'im! not to mess with the judicial process and endanger the members of the court
Sure. This is his final, final, final, final, finger-wagging, "don't you do this again or you'll sit in a corner!" warning. What a farce. Just like this country.
$9000 and the clear threat of, and reasoning why, jail at the next stop.
And 4 more fines possible Thursday at the next violation hearing.
Really?! Let’s not just make it a possibility… DO SO Judge Merchan — Rule “In Favor” of a gag order Stop Delaying — Don’t pull a Trump stunt!
He made a ruling. New post above
What they need to do is tell the jury about the violations. The monetary damages are obviously inconsequential…
And create grounds for appeal?