Trump Responds to Gag Order Reinstatement by Attacking Potential Witness

spaceghoti@lemmy.one to politics @lemmy.world – 393 points –
Trump Responds to Gag Order Reinstatement by Attacking Potential Witness
rollingstone.com
65

I get that gradually tightening the screws and doing this extremely methodically will ultimately end up with the most amenable outcome. This is a fundamental test of our legal system and it has to be followed to the letter for it to work.

That being said that's pretty fucking small comfort to a country that jails people for decades for possessing a plant that is legal in many states and yet won't hold accountable a man who we witnessed stirring up a mob to attack the fucking captial building on live television. He's a cult leader that is given a chance to speak on a national media stage again stirring up his base until they storm the capital again.

More severe penalties is still following the legal system. I completely agree that it should all be by the book, but letting him flout the law with minimal repurcuasions undermines the law, not strengthens it.

As you say, there should be equivalency in justice, otherwise it's unjust.

3 more...

I have just learned that the very Biased, Trump Hating Judge in D.C., (blah blah blah....), ME, has reimposed a GAG ORDER which will put me at a disadvantage against my prosecutorial and political opponents,” Trump wrote at 12:28 a.m.,

Want to know what's the first thing you should not do when getting a gag order? Eliminate plausible deniability that you saw said gag order and then violate it.

And then admit he can't defend himself without verbally attacking everyone in sight

He's so fucking stupid it hurts to watch

If stupid works why change, the guy stupided his way into the white house, stupided his entire life into getting away with countless crimes and potentially will stupid his way back to the white house. Seems pretty smart to be stupid in his situation

And yet he keeps getting away with it.

He's pushing the limits because he's never been held accountable for anything in his life or had to deal with serious consequences. If anything, getting in trouble for this now will just make all the MAGAts even more fanatical and say that he's being targeted by the system, it's a political hit-job, blah blah blah. He should've been locked up a long time ago, but the next best time is today.

If you somehow managed to reach into a beehive multiple times without being stung you'd probably think you'll never be stung. It shows why the law can't ignore white collar crimes, you get people like Trump who have never faced real consequences for their actions. I'm pretty sure it's compunded by his narcissism but then you get into sensitive situations because now he's a public figure. Trump should never have been a sensitive situation for the law, he's a criminal and has always been one but they're treating him softer than someone in traffic court where the ticketing officer isn't even there.

Can't jail rich people. That is why fines exist. Once we fine him enough, he becomes poor people, and you can put poor people in jail.

I wonder if all the judges can cooperate on fines. So this judge can say "You pissed off the other judge twice and he doubled your fine? Well I'll double his fine!" It won't take for him to get to 1,280,000

Absolutely. Doesn't even need cooperation. His previous violations will be available to the current judge, as well as previous sanctions. They absolutely can and should take that into account.

They sure as fuck consider priors when dealing with normal people.

Why shouldn't he? Every time he's done it so far, he's been given nothing more than either a finger-wag or a nominal fine that wouldn't even qualify as pocket change. If you were engaging in behavior you wanted to engage in and the judge told you to stop or he'd fine you $1.79, would you care?

So far every single one of these judges have bent the knee to Trump. They have all admitted to giving him treatment that nobody else would receive. And they have all proven that their threats are empty. Why should he follow the rules when he knows he'll suffer no meaningful penalty for breaking them?

Throw this guy in jail for a weekend to start, then see if he changes his tune. After that, jail pending trial.

But if these people are going to continue playing Trump's games by Trump's rules, they can't be surprised when he continues to do whatever he wants.

Those fines are insultingly small. But putting him in jail would only make him more of a martyr. The law is still struggling to cope with this man.

And...just do it. They are setting a message that if rich = immune to punishment.

Sadly, all this is doing is acknowledging the truth we already knew.

Tbf that’s been the message my whole life.

He's hardly the first rich American to escape justice if he continues to do so. Rich folk in America have literally gotten away with murder. (OJ for one)

He makes a terrible martyr, though.

He just won’t shut up! Martyrs are supposed to be dead. You ever hear a dead guy blabber?

If Trump was martyred half the MAGAs would insist he's alive and another half will insist he's going to come back some day. The former will point to AI deepfakes created by Russia as proof, and will declare a holy war on the other half. Eventually the problem will solve itself.

Eh. You given them more credit.

Pretty sure they’re not competent enough to get the job done,

That's the important thing to note here. They are not trying to get the job done, they are trying to ensure that nobody can get the job done, the one thing morons excel at.

OC was suggesting relying on MAGA to split into a civil war and exterminate themselves... you just laid out the argument for why they won't manage to do that.

I either read this incorrectly or read something else and replied to the wrong thread, you right.

I could care less if the morons see him as a martyr and rise the fuck up. Fucking let them. At this point I'd rather they get gunned down in a blaze of glory than let them silently breed and plan the next fucking coup. Fuck Trump supporters and any who sympathize.

But it does matter. Maybe not to you directly, but the January 6th treason attack was a direct result of his influence. Obviously people who follow him are massive bell ends, but they still matter and they still vote. America's democracy is far from perfect, and has definitely struggled to cope over the past few years, but it put him in the most powerful position in the world for four years and despite all the evidence, enough people are still supporting him that a second term still can't be ruled out.

It beggars belief, it really does, but you really should care about it and a single person being a martyr has historically changed the world.

There we go. Obvious violations of the gag order. He'll see consequences at the heat death of the universe.

One violation, I think - Bill Barr. Both of the judges who have put in gag orders have specifically excluded themselves from being covered by the gag orders.

Thankfully, I have handy a document to review.

Accordingly, and pursuant to Local Criminal Rule 57.7(c), it is hereby ORDERED that:

All interested parties in this matter, including the parties and their counsel, are prohibited from making any public statements, or directing others to make any public statements, that target (1) the Special Counsel prosecuting this case or his staff; (2) defense counsel or their staff; (3) any of this court’s staff or other supporting personnel; or (4) any reasonably foreseeable witness or the substance of their testimony.

She may have said something different from the bench to clarify this, but she could fall under the emphasized point three. The Court is one entity, the Judge is another entity, which serves the Court.

I've been listening to a couple legal podcasts, and they've both said they don't think the judges are covered by the orders.

Let’s just sew his mouth shut so I don’t have to keep hearing about this piece of shit traitorous fuckbag

I assume this is just going to continue escalating, and I'm really curious to see what the supreme court will respond to this when it inevitably reaches them. Will they allow their fellow judges to be bullied and harassed, discrediting themselves in the process, or finally squeeze this necrotic orange.

Sounds like this is just going to continue escalating until the judge decides to throw the necrotic orange asshole in prison and lock him up.

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Judge Tanya Chutkan reinstated a gag order on Sunday night barring former President Donald Trump from attacking court staff, potential witnesses, and members of the prosecution team in the federal case against him for allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Trump responded by attacking Attorney General Bill Barr, a potential witness in the case, while continuing his public assault on Chutkan.

While Chutkan has yet to respond to the posts, she would not be the first Judge overseeing a Trump case to level penalties against the former president for violating court-ordered restrictions on his public statements.

Trump has already been fined twice, and threatened with jail, for violating a separate gag order imposed in New York’s civil fraud case against the former president.

Judge Arthur Engoron fined Trump a total of $15,000 last week, accusing him of violating an order barring him from attacking court staff.

Engoron first slapped Trump with a $5,000 penalty and threatened to revoke his bail after the former president failed to delete a copy of the Truth Social post attacking his clerk from his campaign website.


The original article contains 452 words, the summary contains 185 words. Saved 59%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Engoron first slapped Trump with a $5,000 penalty and threatened to revoke his bail after the former president failed to delete a copy of the Truth Social post attacking his clerk from his campaign website.

Don’t threaten. Do! He has demonstrated that he is a danger to everyone involved in this case.

Exactly. I dunno what it's gonna take, short of one of these judges, their staff, witnesses, or jurors getting outright killed, for someone to finally realize "oh he's actually trying to raise enough hell to get someone to make us go away".

Where are the consequences? He continually breaks all these orders and nothing is happening.