Trump faces prospect of additional sanctions in hush money trial as key witness resumes testimony

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: ABC News/AP

May 2, 2024, 12:03 AM


NEW YORK -- NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump faces the prospect of additional sanctions in his hush money trial as he returns to court Thursday for another contempt hearing followed by testimony from a lawyer who represented two women who have said they had sexual encounters with the former president.

The testimony from attorney Keith Davidson is seen as a vital building block for the prosecution's case that Trump and his allies schemed to bury unflattering stories in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. He is one of multiple key players expected to be called to the stand in advance of prosecutors' star witness, Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and personal fixer.

Prosecutors are seeking $1,000 fines for each of four comments by Trump that they say violated a judge's gag order barring him from attacking witnesses, jurors and others closely connected to the case. Such a penalty would be on top of a $9,000 fine that Judge Juan M. Merchan imposed on Tuesday related to nine separate gag order violations that he found.

It was not immediately clear when Merchan might rule on the request for fresh sanctions, but the prospect of further punishment underscores the challenges Trump the presidential candidate is facing in adjusting to the role of criminal defendant subject to rigid courtroom protocol that he does not control. It also remains to be seen whether any rebuke from the court will lead Trump to adjust his behavior given the campaign trail benefit he believes he derives from painting the case as politically motivated.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/trump-faces-prospect-additional-sanctions-hush-money-trial-109850945

[cstanleytech]

1. The fines he's paying are penny-ante and he will keep doing it until the punishment actually hurts.

The only way really do accomplish something like this for someone wealthy like Trump is to seize assets such as real estate.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. This is standard practice for "escalation" of warnings

whether you are a judge or just a run of the mill supervisor (as I was once before retiring).

In this case, the state of NY set the max fines and that is what was levied and the judge can then take additional steps to tighten the gag order that can, if he chooses, lead to jail. What he needs to be careful of is the actions having an appeal overturn any lower court decision if every opportunity to comply isn't given.

It took 6 months and increasingly harsher penalties for the Judge in the Sam Bankman-Fried case to finally throw that guy's ass in jail for witness tamperingg/intimidation. He was out on $250 million (yes "million" ) bail and staying at his parents' home. The violations got underway shortly after he was charged in Dec. 2021 and the prosecutors had requested sanctions starting around the beginning of Feb. 2022, and each sanction increased the penalty for the violation (where, IIRC, there were more violations in April and again in July).

(snip)

In the motion requesting Bankman-Fried’s detention, the government said that, over the last several months, the defendant had sent over 100 emails to the media and had made over 1,000 phone calls to members of the press. The final straw, according to prosecutors, was Bankman-Fried leaking private diary entries of his ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, to the New York Times. Ellison pleaded guilty to federal charges in December 2022.

(snip)

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/11/us-judge-sends-sam-bankman-fried-to-jail-over-witness-tampering.html

[cstanleytech]

4. Problem is he's actually hoping for jail because he needs to energize his base more.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. I expect Merchan knows that

But he might have other options as well.

[EndlessWire]

13. The problem is that

this trial is not supposed to last six months. It is only estimated to last 6 to 8 weeks. The whole point of the sanctions is to protect the jury from intimidation. So, no wonder the judge has to think about it. He has to balance the best interests of the jury with the optics of it all.

What did the Prosecutors ask for? This is surely going to be the last time Trump gets only a fine. At least the hearings are being heard weekly and not monthly.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. The prosecutors have been asking for the "maximum" fines which for NY statute is $1000 per instance

The judge can decide how to ratchet it up within what the NY statute allows, obviously up to and including jail for contempt.

[onenote]

6. the applicable penalties are defined by, and limited by, statute.

$1000 per violation and/or up to 30 days incarceration. The latter could happen down the road, but it never is the starting point for contempt under NY Judiciary Law 751, and rarely for someone who is not disrupting the trial in front of the jury.

[EndlessWire]

15. We are not at the starting point.

And, he is interrupting the trial by the Judge having to take the time to make this ruling. The "in front of the jury" should not be applicable when this is about jury intimidation outside of the trial.

[onenote]

16. The prosecutors today again said they weren't yet seeking jail time

Seems that they view this as still being early in the process

[NanaCat]

9. Sigh

As our resident lawyers have explained multiple times, the court cannot seize his assets for contempt. New York state permits only two punishments for that: A fine of up to $1000 for each incident, or jail time.

The laws of the state do not allow for asset seizure for this particular crime, so it's useless to demand it.

[cstanleytech]

14. Yes, I know. I'm just saying that the amount he's being fined won't be enough to get him to behave.

That amount would be effective though against people such as myself and others that are barely scraping by but not people like Trump who are wealthy.

[onenote]

17. $15000 was effective in his fraud trial

In October, Judge Engoron fined Trump a total of $15,000 for violating the gag order on the fraud case. The case continued until January and the judgment wasn’t handed down until February. But Trump avoided violating the gag order after having to pay $15,000.

[cstanleytech]

19. And if he continues? Let's face it at most he *might* go to jail but I doubt it.

[truthisfreedom]

2. This is very effective because it's very public.

If he responds to the comparatively tiny fines by complaining, his base will begin to think “wow, that would wipe me out, paying fines like that.” He can’t have his base comparing their dollars to his. It’s too much reality for them to handle in the artificial orange world in which he attempts to keep them distracted.

[Chainfire]

7. I live, for the most part, on Social Security, and I believe that a single dollar is more precious to Trump than to me.

Trump's sense of his worth it wrapped around the almighty dollar.

The form of the "punishment" may not be as important as the punishment itself. It has to get under Trump's skin to be called out by authority for the "bad' things he is doing. No one has ever said no or stop to him before. He is basically an emotional child and the fines are making him go stand in the corner. While we would like to spank him, the judge may be on the right track.

[bluestarone]

8. Just wondering if the judge could decide today to

Set a daily PRE hearings (On days he has normal hearings) to discuss future sanctions? (before every hush money hearing he attends)

[NanaCat]

11. Eventually, Merchan will have no choice

Merchan's patience with this clown won't be infinite. That we're hearing rumours of the Secret Service prepping for a possible jail term indicates that the judge has already told TSF and his defence team to knock off the tampering/intimidation of witnesses...or else.

Merchan is smart enough to know that he has to give this idiot a bit of rope to maintain order and lock out as many chances for a successful appeal as possible...but that rope will not be an infinite supply. He'll give a little. And a little more. And then there won't be anymore to give. The need of an orderly court and respect for it will outweigh the chances for this moron to get the case tossed on appeal.

We're not even halfway through the trial, and TSF has demonstrated that he cannot learn how to behave like a mature and rational adult. That's why I think it's only a matter of time before TSF reaches the end of that rope Merchan has allowed him. He won't like what's waiting at the end of it.

[jvill]

10. Ug.... Can this site stop with the pop up ads? This is not 1994.

N/t

[NanaCat]

12. What ads?

Most of us have known how to see as few of them as possible since 1994.