The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s trial likely will not jail him after a Tuesday hearing on alleged gag order violations, former principal deputy assistant attorney general Tom Dupree predicted on Monday.
Trump is facing 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records pertaining to payments distributed to porn star Stormy Daniels around the 2016 presidential election for her silence regarding an alleged affair. The gag order bars the former president from making statements about witnesses, prosecutors other than the district attorney, court staff, their families and prospective jurors, which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleges Trump has violated, but Dupree said on “The Lead With Jake Tapper” that he will likely not face a penalty of jail time. (RELATED: MSNBC Legal Analyst ‘Really Nervous’ Trump’s Comments Outside Courthouse Could Sway Jurors)
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“The judge has specified lists basically, of people who are possible targets for insult and people who are off limits and the prosecutors say, Trump has just run roughshod over those limits,” Dupree told host Jake Tapper. “I think the judge is going to take the prosecutors’ allegations pretty seriously. The prosecutors have put forward a bunch of tweets, some that Trump originally posted himself, some that he reposted from, others that prosecutors say violated the gag order. I think this is a judge who is very sensitive to the need to preserve the integrity of this proceeding. That means protecting witnesses from attacks, protecting jurors from attacks, and that he may well fine Trump.”
“I don‘t think he’s going to go so far as to try to throw Trump in jail or anything like that. He may have stern language, he may have a warning, he may impose a nominal fine, but I think you‘ll make clear to former President Trump that if this behavior continues he’s going to up the punishment,” Dupree added.
Bragg recently pushed Merchan to warn Trump he could face up to 30 days in jail if he violates the gag order in the future, according to a court filing. The district attorney also argued that Trump has already violated the gag order and that the judge should hold him in contempt.
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