MAGA is Attempting to Tamper with the Trump Jury Right in Front of Our Eyes

MAGA is following the Gotti Playbook

Everyone reading this knows that MAGA will try to tamper with the jurors--and even the witnesses—to help Donald Trump in his criminal trial that began Monday in New York. That is why the judge presiding over the case, Juan Merchan, ordered that the names of the prospective jurors be kept anonymous citing "a likelihood of bribery, jury tampering, or of physical injury or harassment of juror(s)."  While Trump’s lawyers will be provided with the potential  juror’s names so they can research them, Judge Merchan’s partial gag order expressly bars Trump from “making or directing others to make public statements about any prospective juror or any juror in this criminal proceeding” as well as witnesses.

That is something you would expect in a criminal trial for a mob boss or leader of a terrorist movement.  But then again, Trump is both a mob boss and the leader of domestic terrorist movement as the head of the violent, criminal enterprise known as MAGA.

In fact, Trump has been called the “Teflon Don” after New York mobster John Gotti who escaped criminal convictions in a few high profile cases in the 1980’s.  Those cases are instructive as to what we may see from MAGA in Trump’s current case.

In Gotti’s first well-publicized criminal case in 1986, his minions threatened a witness who conveniently got a case of amnesia in the courtroom and was unable to identify Gotti as the man who robbed and assaulted him. Gotti walked. And then in Gotti’s 1987 trial, a person named George Pape was able to get on the jury by withholding information that he was a close friend of someone connected to Gotti.  Once on the jury, Pape was paid $60,000 by a Gotti intermediary to help the mobster beat the case—which Gotti did. Pape was later charged and convicted for crimes in connection with this bribe. In 1992, though, when there was neither jury nor witness tampering, Gotti was convicted of very serious felonies.

Turning to Trump’s case, on Monday we already saw clear evidence that MAGA would attempt to tamper with Trump’s jury to help him. One of the most jarring and overt attempts came from MAGA Rep. Byron Donalds who told viewers Monday on Newsmax to get on the jury and vote to acquit Trump regardless of the evidence. I’m not exaggerating. The Florida Congressman stated, “My plea is to the people of Manhattan that may sit on this trial: Please do the right thing for this country.”  He continued, “Everybody’s allowed to have their political viewpoints, but the law is supposed to be blind and no respecter of persons.”

At this point, if Donalds had ended his plea by saying please follow the evidence and be guided accordingly, that would be fine. Instead, this MAGA soldier directly told the people of Manhattan who might be watching: “This is a trash case, there is no crime here, and if there is any potential for a verdict, they should vote not guilty.”

Here is a sitting member of Congress telling people who watch the pro-Trump Newsmax that if they live in Manhattan and are called to be a juror on the case, they should ignore the evidence and vote to acquit Trump. All that was missing was the $60,000 payment that Gotti offered the juror in his case.

Then there was Fox News contributor Clay Travis who Monday morning—with the Trump jury selection about to begin—made an even more direct appeal to his more than one million followers on Twitter to ignore the evidence and help Trump.  Travis wrote, “If you’re a Trump supporter in New York City who is a part of the jury pool, do everything you can to get seated on the jury and then refuse to convict as a matter of principle, dooming the case via hung jury. It’s the most patriotic thing you could possibly do.”

Travis—with the line “do everything you can to get seated on the jury” -- was telling prospective jurors to follow the Gotti playbook of withholding vital information from the court of their obvious bias. Then ignore the evidence and cause a hung jury.

In response to Travis’s post, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell—a former prosecutor—tweeted: “Jury tampering. That’s what they do. *It’s a felony.”  And National security attorney Bradley Moss  wrote on social media, “Clay is arguably conspiring to commit jury tampering here by encouraging someone to deliberately engage in jury nullification.”

Those two were the most in your face attempts at jury tampering. Others, like MAGA Rep. Elise Stefanik from New York, were more subtle in trying to influence prospective jurors in her home state. On Monday she wrote on Twitter that the judge presiding over the case was “corrupt” and that this was, “A 6-8 week show trial... Total election interference.” This line of attack-- echoed by many Republicans including MAGA Senator JD Vance-- is a more subtle form of jury tampering where these elected officials are intentionally attempting to influence prospective jurors about the case before they see the evidence.

From a legal point of view, under New York law jury tampering requires a showing that “with intent to influence the outcome of an action or proceeding” a person “communicates with a juror.”  If Donalds or Travis made their comments directly to a juror or prospective juror, it’s clear they would’ve committed a crime. But it appears less likely when it’s a general statement—despite having the exact same goal of illegally influencing jurors.

But if MAGA is doing this in public, you have to wonder what Trump’s MAGA minions are doing in private to tamper with the jury and witnesses.  I will predict that before this trial is over, we learn that someone in MAGA world has attempted to bribe or threaten a juror and/or witness in the service of their beloved Trump.  (And of course Trump would love that because it would cause a mistrial and a major delay in the case.)

In the end, though, even if it takes a second trial, Trump will ultimately follow the same path as Gotti. By that I mean he will be convicted of felonies and spend the final days of his life in prison. And that is exactly what Trump deserves.

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