As of Tuesday April 4, 2023 Donald J. Trump is the defendant in a criminal case….
As such?
The judge at his arrest arraignment CAN issue a order to the accused to refrain from comments about his case….
THAT would be a very interesting situation….
Trump has rode his entertaining ‘comments’ for the media for decades….
The penalty for disregarding a judges order would be either $1,000 or 30 days in jail….
Would Trump ‘do his thing’ and pay the fine?
(The judge isn’t gonna put Trump ‘in’ for 30 days , even though Trump would be technically ‘ ROR’d’….’Released on his own recognizance’ with no bail to secure his return to court)
Would he try to stall and contest a order to keep quiet on the case, the DA and the judge?
Stay tuned……
His freedom to rant on Truth Social and say what he wants about his case at rallies will likely change once he surrenders and appears in a Manhattan courthouse, according to Duncan Levin, who is also a former federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice.
Manhattan’s Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who is expected to arraign Trump on Tuesday, is likely to put conditions on his release, and that’s “most likely” when the judge will issue a gag order, restricting Trump from discussing the case, Levin said. If Trump violates it by speaking about the litigation outside the courtroom, he could face consequences.
Punishment for criminal contempt, under New York law, is a fine not exceeding $1,000, jail for up to 30 days or both…
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It’s hard to imagine Trump, now a 2024 presidential candidate, not speaking about this case at one of his campaign rallies. He has already been using it in fundraising emails, Facebook ads, and in Truth Social posts, targeting Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggand Merchan. His campaign is even hawking “I Stand With Trump” t-shirts along with the date of his indictment….
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If there’s a gag order, Levin said Trump will be “very limited” in what he’s able to say, even if there may be proxies who speak for him. The court has the ability to set the rules for his conduct while he’s most likely to be out on bail, pending proceedings.
“This is a criminal case now, so the rules have changed, and the rules are no longer in his purview to make,” Levin said. “He is a criminal defendant and, you know, we see hundreds of thousands of criminal defendants across the country every day who have a lot of rights stripped away from them and he is now one of them. These proceedings are going to change his life.”
Former Indiana Attorney General Jeff Modisett said he also expected that a judge could narrowly craft a gag order that could survive an appeal….