Protective order poses dilemma for Tanya Chutkan as Trump could use it to falsely attack the criminal case as political
A federal judge is expected to consider on Monday whether to impose a limited gag order on Donald Trump in the criminal case over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, potentially restricting what he can say about potential trial witnesses and prosecutors.
The decision for US district judge Tanya Chutkan at the hearing, scheduled for 10am in Washington, comes with unique challenges given the potential for Trump to test the limits of a protective order or even flout it outright – opening the explosive sanctions question of whether to jail him in response.
Since Trump was charged in August with conspiring to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power, prosecutors have complained in court filings that Trump has made dozens of prejudicial statements that could intimidate people from testifying against him at trial and poison the jury pool.
Wait. They reluctant to sanction him in-case he ignores them and they have to decide whether to jail him?
There is probably a lot of truth to this. Nobody wants to be in the middle of whatever would become of that situation.
At this point, it does not matter what the court does. There will be violence. It's just a matter of when, and to what degree. Postponing that only makes the inevitable violence worse.
Worse and somebody else's fault.
Every judge in the country would likely be shitting themselves at the prospect of being the one to cross the Rubicon of imprisoning a former president and current presidential candidate
I think jail is less likely than a fine.