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Former U.S. President Donald Trump walks amid his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments, at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 7, 2024, in New York City, U.S. Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors say was an effort to hide a potential sex scandal, both before and after the 2016 presidential election. Trump is the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges.
Trump flirts with detention
American cable news has been riveted for weeks by the courtroom spectacle of former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump. That was even before Stormy Daniels, the famous porn star at the center of the so-called “hush-money” trial, took the stand on Tuesday to offer provocative details about an encounter with Trump that he insists never happened.
But this trial’s most consequential questions of the moment are …
- Will Judge Juan Merchan finally jail Trump for repeatedly defying a gag order that blocks the former president from speaking publicly about potential witnesses and most people associated with the court and the prosecutor’s office?
- What happens if Merchan does order Trump into detention?
On Monday, the judge fined Trump for the tenth time, this time for a Truth Social post complaining about his lawyer’s lack of time to prepare for a witness – in this case, the aforementioned adult entertainer. Merchan warned that, “Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction.”
Trump removed the offending post, but how long will he resist the temptation to again violate the judge’s order?
If Merchan does give the confinement order, Trump will likely be held in a room, with security protection, within the courthouse itself. He may well be released after just a few hours.
If this happens, we’ll be watching to see whether Trump is chastened by the experience or becomes more defiant – and what Judge Merchan will do if Trump violates the order again.