Looking Trump in the eye, the N.Y. judge warns he may jail him
“The last thing I want to do,” New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan says, is put “possibly the next president” behind bars.
NEW YORK — The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal trial found him in contempt of court Monday — the 10th such violation of a gag order — and warned the former president that he was flirting with jail time if he continued to talk or post online statements about witnesses, jurors, or relatives of those involved in the case.
“Mr. Trump, it’s important to understand that the last thing I want to do is to put you in jail,” New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan warned from the bench. “You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next president, as well.”
But Merchan added he would take that step if Trump’s behavior did not change.
“Your continued violations of this Court’s lawful order threaten to interfere with the administration of justice, in constant attacks which constitute a direct attack on the rule of law,” Merchan said. “I cannot allow that to continue.”
The warning came as prosecutors signaled they expected their presentation to last roughly two more weeks.
Merchan’s statement marks a significant escalation of the courtroom game of chicken that has played out in recent weeks between the judge and the defendant, who is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business documents and possible jail time if convicted. Trump, whom Merchan last week fined $9,000 for nine violations of the gag order, has somewhat reined in his public remarks.
The judge had given Trump a similar warning earlier, but only in writing.
(Mary Altaffer/Pool/AP)
End of carousel
The judge said Monday that jailing Trump would require a monumental effort involving several law enforcement agencies including the Secret Service and New York’s corrections department.
“To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings,” he said.
Trump did not reply to Merchan’s warning.
Merchan, a stern but soft-spoken judge, did not raise his voice Monday even as he spoke about a once-unthinkable scenario — the presumptive GOP nominee for president running for office from a jail cell. Trump is the first former U.S. president to face a criminal trial, and Merchan’s toughest warning to date came on the fourth week of the proceedings, at roughly the halfway mark of the trial.
In his ruling, Merchan decided that Trump’s comments in an interview — in which he criticized the makeup and selection of his jury — had violated the gag order, while three other public statements he made around that same period in late April had not.
Merchan’s decision marks the second time Trump has been told his statements outside court — whether in interviews or social media posts — violated the court order.
While Trump has tangled with judges in past civil trials, the stakes in a criminal trial are higher, because the threat of incarceration hangs over the entire process. Outside the courtroom, Trump has said he is willing to go to jail to defend what he calls his constitutional right to speak as a presidential candidate.
At the end of the court session Monday, Trump told reporters outside the courtroom that the trial was a disgrace, and “even more disgraceful is the gag order where, basically, I have to watch every word I tell you people.”
Trump suggested he was, in fact, willing to go to jail in the standoff with the judge. “Our constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day,” he said.
His lawyers have argued that Trump has to be able to respond to the verbal attacks of his political rivals and critics, particularly when that criticism was leveled by a witness against him.
The 12th day of Trump’s trial in New York, on charges of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, was otherwise consumed by the dry but factually critical details about the checks Trump signed in 2017.
Witnesses confirmed they handled the paperwork that helped pay former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen for what prosecutors say was a corrupt scheme to influence the election by keeping the actress silent during the 2016 presidential campaign about her alleged tryst with Trump years earlier.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 counts and denied any such sexual encounter with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
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