Donald Trump has booked a one-way ticket to jail, and the judge overseeing his ongoing New York criminal trial on Monday said hes ready to send him there at any moment.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan started the fourth week of Trumps trial with a speech thats more than a year in the making, explaining why he hasnt yet thrown the politician into the slammermaking what he called his final warning to the former president.
Ill find you in criminal contempt for the tenth time, Merchan said in a stark tone. It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction. Mr. Trump, its important to understand the last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next one as well.
Trump keeps ignoring the judges order forbidding him from speaking publicly about witnesses and jurors in a menacing way, something the former president keeps doing anyway on social media. Merchan last week fined Trump $9,000 for nine separate violations of a previous gag ordera step he only took after making repeated warnings.
But the American public has continued to wonder where this judge will draw a line. At Trumps bank fraud trial last year, a civil judge whose courtroom is just a block away similarly punished the politician several times for ignoring a gag order and continuing to make threats against that judges law clerk. But in that separate case, Justice Arthur F. Engoron kept threatening to send Trump to jail temporarily but never did so.
However, the stakes in Merchans courtroom are much higher. The former president faces 34 felony counts and up to four years in prison. Allowing himor any defendantto threaten witnesses, jurors, court staff, and prosecutors sets a shocking precedent for the countrys justice system.
And thats exactly why Merchan detailed his reasoning during a speech in court Monday morning, explaining the monumental considerations at play when considering whether to be the first judge ever to send a former American president to jail without even waiting for a guilty verdict from a jury.
To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings I also worry about the people who would have to executive that sanction: the court officers the Secret Service detail and others. I worry about them... Im also aware of concerns about the broader implications of that jail sanction. The magnitude of that decision is not lost on me. But at the end of the day, I have a job to do, and that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system, Merchan said.
Trumps incessant outbursts and violent rhetoric outside the courtroom, Merchan stressed, constitute a direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue. So as much as I do not want to impose that jail sanction... I want you to understand that I will if necessary and appropriate.
Later on Monday Merchan also asked for the first time for an update on when prosecutors planned to wrap their case upto which they responded sometime during the week of May 20.
That means the former presidents first criminal trial will probably last through the entire month of Maykeeping the leading 2024 Republican presidential candidate off the campaign trail longer than hed hoped.
Trump is like that electrical infetterance copypasta except he is not at a grocery store but in court before the judge.Never seen this one
I have a job to do, and that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system, Merchan said.The fact that Trump has been allowed to attempt to intimidate witnesses and jurors multiple times and gotten less than $10k in fines says there is no fucking dignity left in the judicial system
And probably the next one as well.
Lmao what a performative dipshit.
Part of me wants to see it happen but I also think it'd galvanize Trump supporters further and make him sympathetic to fucking idiots who aren't paying attention.
$1000 fine wouldn't stop regular civilians from doing shit they'd want to do, why would they think it works on trump?
We really need to move on from "we can't punish chuds for breaking the law because they might get mad and do bad things like break the law." We don't go soft on thieves and murderers because we're scared of upsetting them.
lock him up
Please just fucking throw him in jail already
Ill find you in criminal contempt for the tenth time, Merchan said in a stark tone. It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent.Fool me once, shame on you
if the penalty for a crime is just a fine, then it's only a law for poor people. see: jeff bezos racking up 16k in parking ticketsThis is why rich pricks that get fined shouldn't get to pay it out of their pocket change.
Please just fucking throw him in jail already
Anyone else would have been locked up by now.
you think most regular people who go to court have $1000 lying around?
lol
if you can't pay the fine they send you to jail anyway
People like Trump don't understand threats. They only understand hard consequences.That last part is false, since Trump is incapable of learning anything. But that doesn't matter.
Covid was a "hoax" to Trump, right up until he almost lost his life to it.
Send him to jail. Keep him there for as long as you or I would be for committing half the shit he's done.
He'll learn then.
I don't want to see Trump after a night in prison with no time to do his hair and makeup before court. You know that fucker is ug-lee under all that shit.
This sounds like the judge is highly biased toward Trump and actively protecting him during a criminal trialNah, I hate it but if he doesn't handle Trump with the most kid of gloves, he knows he'll attract unwanted ire/need to go into witness protection after this is over.
Reread what the judge said. It isnt what you typed.
And probably the next one as well.
Lmao what a performative dipshit.
you think people are worried about paying $1000 if they want/need to do something bad enough to risk getting caught?
fines are not deterrents no matter how broke or rich you are.
fines are not deterrents no matter how broke or rich you are.
lmao
absolutely they are, they are literally part of why I make sure not to do certain things
lmao
absolutely they are, they are literally part of why I make sure not to do certain things
Convenient of you to leave the first half of the post out. If you needed or wanted something bad enough to risk getting caught for, the possibility of a fine wouldn't stop you.
In another topic you said you die for an animal in the heat of the moment, you think you stop and consider something being a fuckin fine? Doubt it.
contempt of court is a very specific crime(especially when done via typed out social media posts). you're talking about other heat of the moment stuff people would get arrested for.
Convenient of you to leave the first half of the post out. If you needed or wanted something bad enough to risk getting caught for, the possibility of a fine wouldn't stop you.
In another topic you said you die for an animal in the heat of the moment, you think you stop and consider something being a fuckin fine? Doubt it.
This is why rich pricks that get fined shouldn't get to pay it out of their pocket change.
Instead, they should be obliged to earn 2x the assessed fine via hard labor at prison chain gang rates (the factor of 2 accounting roughly for the taxes these people should pay, but almost never do).