The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money trial has made one thing very clear: He’s tired of the former president ignoring his order not to discuss people involved in or close to the case. And if that means jail time, so be it.
Judge Juan Merchan found Trump in contempt Monday and fined him for violating his gag order. His warning Monday comes less than a week after finding him for nine separate earlier gag order violations – which came after repeated warnings.
“Because this is now the tenth time that this Court has found defendant in criminal contempt, spanning three separate motions, it is apparent that monetary fines have not and will not, suffice to deter defendant from violating this Court’s lawful orders,” Merchan wrote in his order. “Defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and unwarranted future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration.”
From the bench, Merchan spoke to Trump saying the “last thing I want to do is put you in jail” but “at the end of the day, I have a job to do.” A jail stay – even a brief one to prove a point – would be unprecedented for a former American president, and a current presumed presidential nominee.
Criminal defense attorney Hermann Walz, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says multiple gag order violations are uncommon and going to jail for the violations is rare. But Walz says everything is in the hands of the “all powerful” judge.
Contempt of court is punishable by a fine or up to 30 days in jail for each gag order violation, according to state statutes. But even if Merchan sentences Trump to jail, it might not be the final word on the matter. The ruling would likely prompt Trump’s legal team to file an appeal, which is their right in such cases. The judge could also decide that Trump can serve the jail sentence at a later date instead of during the trial, Walz says.
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If he were to go to jail, where would he go? Typically a person goes to the jail in the county where the court is located – in this case Rikers Island. But Trump’s trial is anything but typical.
“They could send him [to a holding cell at the courthouse] and say ‘you stay here for the day.’ Sometimes the contempt is just to try to punish you,” Walz says. “But let’s say I’m giving you 30 days…They’re going to say go to Rikers and serve your sentence.”
Although the most imminent threat to Trump is the contempt charges, the full trial is also playing out. Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up allegations of extramarital affairs that threatened his 2016 presidential bid. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
If the jury in Trump’s Manhattan trial finds him guilty, the judge will be responsible for his sentencing although a likely appeal could delay serving any sentence. Trump’s charges are Class E felonies, the lowest level of felony in New York. If convicted, Merchan could sentence Trump to a minimum sentence of probation or up to four years in prison.
Typically, people sentenced to less than a year in New York serve their time with the New York City Department of Correction at Rikers Island, a seven-jail complex. People sentenced to more than a year would go to one of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s 44 correctional facilities.
Annais Morales, press secretary for the Department of Correction, did not go into specifics regarding the department’s plans for potentially housing a former president.
“The Department would find appropriate housing for him if he winds up in our custody,” Morales says.
But what about the Secret Service?
They are charged with protecting former presidents but have not faced the task of a former president behind bars.
Morales wouldn’t elaborate on what exactly “appropriate housing” means. Nor would she say whether there would be accommodations for the Secret Service or whether Trump’s stay would be any different than the average person at Rikers.
Alexi Worley, spokesperson for the Secret Service, says they do not discuss the “means or methods used to conduct our protective operations.”
Although protecting Trump behind bars would be a first for the Secret Service, a former Secret Service employee who provided security at the White House for 28 years says they are likely ready.
“Is this a unique challenge? Well, it’s not really. The same protocols are used. The protocols that every consideration is considered, every possibility is looked into, and every precaution is taken, and that is the standard that can’t be deviated from,” he says. “It doesn’t matter where the president is at. If he’s on the moon, they’re going to be with him.”
