Expanding Trump's gag order is not enough--he should be in prison until his trial!

Trump's special treatment MUST end!

Just about every conversation featuring legal experts in the media talking about Donald Trump's conduct includes the line: "If he were anyone else, he'd already be in jail." That tells you that Trump continues to receive special treatment. I don’t know about you, but I’m thoroughly disgusted with this special treatment for a man who attempted a coup, incited the Jan 6 attack, is charged with 88 felonies for a range of crimes including violating the Espionage Act and who is now attacking the family of the New York judge handling his criminal case there.

It’s long, long past time this ends. And the way to do that is for the New York judge presiding over his election fraud case--where Trump faces 34 felonies--to order him held in custody for contempt until his April 15 trial begins.

Last week, the judge handling this case, Juan Merchan, imposed a gag order that prohibited Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and court staff--as well as their relatives. In response, Trump repeatedly attacked the Judge’s daughter by name as being biased for working for organizations tied to Democrats. Trump even posted a news article to his Truth Social platform that displayed two pictures of Ms. Merchan. In addition, Trump continued to repeat a lie that the judge’s wife had posted a photo online of Trump in prison. In reality, the social media account at issue—as Trump has been told in the past--had no connection to Merchan’s wife.

Those posts by Trump, while violating the spirit of the gag order, did not violate the express language because that prior order did not cover the family of the judge. But before we address the law, please understand that that there’s only one reason Trump is targeting the judge’s family: To incite threats and potentially violence against them by Trump supporters. Trump is attempting to intimidate the judge by saying if you rule against me on key issues, we know who your family is. It’s the same message Trump wants to send to potential witnesses and jurors in the case, namely, we may not be able to get to you, but we will come after your family.

Former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi explained on my SiriusXM show Monday that Trump is using mob tactics to intimidate witnesses and others by inciting threats against their family.   Figliuzzi even shared that in one case he handled, a family member of a witness was killed.  You can watch the interview of Frank—who is an MSNBC national security expert—here:

We don’t have to speculate about what some Trump supporters will do to those Trump targets given the well-documented track record.  In fact, this very point was made by Special Counsel Jack Smith last September when he sought a gag order in Trump’s Jan 6 case to protect potential jurors, witnesses, etc. from Trump’s attacks. Smith’s team wrote: “The defendant [Trump] knows that when he publicly attacks individuals and institutions, he inspires others to perpetrate threats and harassment against his targets.”

Smith then detailed the threats against the federal judge presiding in that case, Tanya Chutkan, that led to the arrest of a Trump supporter for threatening—in racist terms--to kill her. In addition, the motion explains that the Special Counsel’s office “has been subject to multiple threats.”

In other words, Trump’s followers are doing exactly what Trump wanted them to do.

Getting back to this case, the Manhattan DA—in their pleading to expand the original gag order to protect Judge Marchan’s family—correctly noted, “There is no constitutional right to target the family of this Court.” The prosecutor then continued with a very accurate statement: “Defendant knows what he is doing, and everyone else does too.”

The DA is correct. We all know what Trump is doing: He is trying to intimidate the judge, witnesses, prosecutors and prospective witnesses.  That is exactly what Bragg’s team explained, writing: “We all know exactly what defendant intends because he has said for decades that it is part of his life philosophy to go after his perceived opponents ‘as viciously and as violently’ as he can.” The prosecutors added that Trump, “promised very recently that “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!’ He is carrying out that promise right now.”

That led to Judge Marchan’s ruling Monday night expanding the original gag order to protect his own family from Trump. (Take that in for a moment.) The Judge wrote in his opinion that Trump’s  “pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose.”  Rather, “It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to patriciate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are "fair game" for Defendant's vitriol.”

The judge then warned, “The average observer, must now, after hearing defendant’s recent attacks, draw the conclusion that if they become involved in these proceedings, even tangentially, they should worry not only for themselves, but for their loved ones as well.”  He added, “Such concerns will undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitutes a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself.”

The judge later emphasized this very point, writing, “Again, all citizens, called upon to participate in these proceedings, whether as a juror, a witness, or in some other capacity, must now concern themselves not only with their own personal safety, but with the safety and the potential for personal attacks upon their loved ones.” The judge added, “That reality cannot be overstated.”

The judge concluded by noting that “any violation of this Order will result in sanctions under Judiciary Law §§ 750(A)(3) and 751.” The penalties available under this law enables the judge to imprison judge for up to 30 days and fine him $1000.00.

Trump made us all know what he thinks about the order by sharing Tuesday morning on social media a Fox News segment where the host and “lawyer” Jonathan Turley raised the issue of the Judge’s daughter. However, when you read the judge’s order from Monday, it says Trump is barred from “Making or directing others to make public statements…” about the “family members” of the Court. Will the judge give Trump another chance because he shared but did not actually “make” the comment himself? We will see.

But we all know until Trump is in prison, this will never end. And the more Trump gets away with his conduct that would put anyone else in a cell, the more this undermines our confidence in our judiciary and institutions—which is exactly what the aspiring fascist leader Trump wants.

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