"Defendant is not above the law": N.Y. prosecutors urge judge to hold Trump in contempt
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed a motion Tuesday seeking to hold former President Trump in contempt for alleged violations of his partial gag order in the New York criminal case.
Why it matters: Prosecutors in the Tuesday filing pointed to recent posts the former president made on his Truth Social account "attacking two known witnesses — Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels," per the filing.
- Prosecutors argue that the social media posts violate the partial gag order Trump is under in the trial, which prohibits him from making public statements on possible witnesses in the case.
- Prosecutors also asked that Trump be fined $3,000 for violations of the gag order in three separate social media posts.
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This is significant as Trump has been employing the strongman tactic of intentionally violating restrictions/restraints imposed on him to see if any negative consequences would be enforced and this is the first real test of that in a criminal proceeding.
Even if he is held in contempt it will likely be a cash fine to start, and he’ll continue to violate to see how far he can push before the punishment escalates to jail time.
His teams bet is that he’ll continue to receive special treatment not afforded to any other defendant in a criminal trial with the judge not calling his bluffs and imposing that major recourse, and he’ll be able to continue to attack court staff and witnesses (hoping one of his followers hears his lone wolf whistle and takes matters in to their own hands), intimidate potential jurors, and scream “SCAM” and “DEMOCRATIC HIT JOB” via his failing social media platform and on the steps outside the court. All the while fundraising off his lies (and lying about how much he raised).
These trials—particularly how the judges and prosecutors deal with Trump’s disregard for the laws governing trial proceedings, the safety of participants, and the very idea of “justice”—are going to tell us exactly how close to the destruction of the rule of law within a democratic republican framework America is.
