Will Trump run afoul of contempt of court (or similar)?

[evoeth]

Recently, Trump has state on Truth Social:

If you go after me, I’m coming after you!​

Which, to me, reads plainly as a threat to anyone who would testify against him. This is of course coming in the context of other "Truths" he posted about his court case and only two days after his arraignment.

Then yesterday, he attacked Jack Smith.
Let's get real here, an ordinary defendant would already be behind bars for talking about key figures or trying to influence witnesses/jury in an ongoing case like this.
With that, will Trump be found in violation of a protection order/contempt of court/influencing the jury and so forth, prior to trial?

 

[Dosblade]

You know the Dem's have said the same thing over the years.. Rep have said the same thing. The news has been talking about this as you fully know how what the left has been doing.. now were coming after you. Doing the same things they did.. You tied to impeach Trump.. were coming after you were going to impeach Biden.

So lets not add something to what President Trump never said never implied so please stop..

 

[Paulos23]

For this, I hope gets a bit more than a warning, but I don't think he will get jail.

He really needs to get his hand slapped here in order to stop this behavior.

 

[evoeth]

You know the Dem's have said the same thing over the years.. Rep have said the same thing. The news has been talking about this as you fully know how what the left has been doing.. now were coming after you. Doing the same things they did.. You tied to impeach Trump.. were coming after you were going to impeach Biden.

So lets not add something to what President Trump never said never implied so please stop..

It's a blatant threat of retaliation. It's not implied.
Here's me asking a language model, to explain the words.

 

[essentialsaltes]

This is one of the many ways the judicial system will bend over backwards to be kind to former president Donald Trump. He will get much greater leeway and consideration than any average defendant. There will be no teeth to this, unless he literally attempts Coup Part Deux Boogaloo.

 

[wing2000]

I expect the the protective order may be even stricter than the prosecution asked for as a result of Trump's behavior. I also expect another strong warning from the court, with the next step banning Trump from social media. And if after 2 or 3 court warnings, Trump insist on ignoring court orders, he will end up in jail. It's up to him to comply...

 

[Yttrium]

I doubt Trump can restrain himself from going too far in criticizing people. His lawyers will be trying their hardest to keep him quiet, but social media is calling for Trump, and he just can't stop himself.

 

[evoeth]

I doubt Trump can restrain himself from going too far in criticizing people. His lawyers will be trying their hardest to keep him quiet, but social media is calling for Trump, and he just can't stop himself.

It's very generous to call his vanity network with only 500k active users "social" media.

 

[Yttrium]

It's very generous to call his vanity network with only 500k active users "social" media.

Well, yeah, but it technically counts.

 

[SimplyMe]

You know the Dem's have said the same thing over the years.. Rep have said the same thing. The news has been talking about this as you fully know how what the left has been doing.. now were coming after you. Doing the same things they did.. You tied to impeach Trump.. were coming after you were going to impeach Biden.

So lets not add something to what President Trump never said never implied so please stop..

It's not what others have said, it is about what defendants have said while awaiting trial. In this case, Trump was explicitly told, when he was released on his own recognizance, "it is an offense to threaten a witness or endeavor to fight back against any individual who could provide testimony." This is basically something all criminal defendants agree to when they are released on bail.

So, yes, before Trump was indicted he was free to make those types of comments; now that he is a defendant, making statements like that are considered attempts at intimidating witnesses and, as such, are illegal and -- as pointed out -- if most people did what Trump did then they'd have been arrested and either need to post a large bond or held in jail to wait for their trial.

 

[Fantine]

My vote would be "other." After warning or two she will confine him to a day or two of house arrest with an ankle bracelet.

 

[essentialsaltes]

I expect the the protective order may be even stricter than the prosecution asked for as a result of Trump's behavior.

Certainly Jack Smith's team is helping to make that case by quoting what Trump's defense lawyer said on TV.

On Sunday, August 6, defense counsel appeared on five television programs and discussed this case in detail, publicly commenting on topics including the parties’ disagreement over the protective order, the defense’s planned legal arguments, the defendant’s actions and statements during the charged conspiracies, and expected testimony of a prospective witness.

The defendant’s proposed order would lead to the public dissemination of discovery material. Indeed, that is the defendant’s stated goal; the defendant seeks to use the discovery material to litigate this case in the media. But that is contrary to the purpose of criminal discovery, which is to afford defendants the ability to prepare for and mount a defense in court—not to wage a media campaign. The Court should instead enter the Government’s proposed order.

 

[essentialsaltes]

This is one of the many ways the judicial system will bend over backwards to be kind to former president Donald Trump. He will get much greater leeway and consideration than any average defendant. There will be no teeth to this, unless he literally attempts Coup Part Deux Boogaloo.

Trump’s Getting Special Treatment​

The court system is already granting special privileges to the former president that no other defendant gets.​

(warning: Slate opinion piece)

 

[evoeth]

Trump has recieved a fine and a warning.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/20/politics/trump-social-media-fraud-trial-warning/index.html

 

[rambot]

Any judge that puts Trump in jail will get more than death threats.

I dont think he'll end up there. He has said several things that seem to go against the order and nothing happens

 

[evoeth]

Trump has been fined and warned again. This time for comments about a court clerk made this week.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

He is an encorageable child.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Given that the orders are centered around the concept of him keeping his trap shut, it's highly unlikely he'll be able to abide by it...just sayin'

That being said, I doubt a violation would result in jail time. Thus far, in a streak of unfortunate irony, the people who agree to be agreeable with prosecutors and flip on him have gotten more punishment than he's gotten thus far.

Which I feel is a poor incentive structure in terms of strategy for prosecutors if they want to get people to continue to flip on him. Cohen has already been in jail, served his time, and gotten released for his trouble, and the testimony he provided in order to cut the deal hasn't resulted in Trump spending a day behind bars.

Prosecutors pursuing Trump really need to start considering a "immunity in exchange for playing ball" approach to going after his associates.

"If you agree to testify against Trump and enter a guilty plea, we'll give you 2 years in jail instead of 4" becomes less and less appealing if each time the prosecutor fails to "seal the deal" and nothing major comes from it and he's still a free man...free to hop on social media and encourage a bunch of nutjobs to send you death threats.

 

[DaisyDay]

He's getting mighty close - he's already had two fines, $5K then $10K for a total of $15,000 from Justice Engoron.

Trump attacks judge in NY fraud case who fined him $15,000

The latest attacks show Trump turning to the court of public opinion to fight his mounting legal challenges.

www.cnbc.com