Depending on which of the lawyers connected, or previously connected, to Donald Trump that you ask, the former president may spend some time in a jail cell if he can’t keep his mouth shut.
Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb said he thinks that if Trump breaks the federal gag order in his federal election interference case, he will be sent to prison. This comes after the order was reinstated Sunday, according to The Hill.
The latest gag prevents the former president from disparaging court staff or knocking witnesses in the case. In a New York fraud case, Trump has so far been fined $15,000 for violating a more limited order twice.
“Well, the New York judge fined him $10,000,” Cobb said in a CNN interview Monday, referring to Trump’s second fine. “That’s in a civil case. That’s not as consequential as Judge Chutkan’s case.”
“I think she’ll come in with a much heavier penalty, and ultimately, I think he’ll spend a night or a weekend in jail,” he said.
Trump’s current attorney, though, thinks all of the gag orders are much to do about nothing. Alina Habba told Newsmax, “It’s not even something we think about, to be honest, because this is all political. It’s really, not — there’s no criminal acts that he’s done. There’s no civil wrongs that he’s done, unless making money for banks is a civil wrong all of a sudden.”
The judge’s order gag order has been seen as such an egregious violation of the former president’s speech rights that even the ACLU, typically a liberal opponent of Trump, argued that the judge had crossed the line.
Last week, the civil rights organization “urged the judge overseeing former President Trump’s federal 2020 election criminal case in D.C. to reevaluate her gag order, arguing it is unconstitutionally overly broad and vague.
“Former President, and now Defendant, Donald Trump has said many things,’ the ACLU and its D.C. branch wrote in court filings. “Much that he has said has been patently false and has caused great harm to countless individuals, as well as to the Republic itself. Some of his words and actions have led him to this criminal indictment, which alleges grave wrongdoing in contempt of the peaceful transition of power.”
The civil liberties group also claimed the overly broad order was in violation of Trump’s First Amendment rights, saying it prevents him from speaking about key points in the 2024 presidential election, including the results of the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“This case is already one of the most talked-about trials of all time,” the ACLU wrote. “There may never have been a better-known criminal case in American history, or a better-known defendant. With that in mind, to the extent that the Court’s order seeks to prevent future statements from affecting the impartiality of the potential jury pool, the order seems unlikely to make much of a difference.”
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