'He has a big problem': former judge says Trump may have just violated his gag order—again
Former President Donald Trump's recent comments about his hush money trial jury may have violated his gag order, according to a former judge.
Trump made the questionable comments about his panel of New York City jurors in an interview with John Fredericks on Real America's Voice Monday night.
"That jury was picked so fast," Trump said. "Ninety-five percent Democrats...It's a very unfair situation, that I can tell you."
Fredericks proceeded to call the trial a "scam Soviet manifesto trial going on in New York City" and argued that Trump was being politically persecuted and the justice system "perverted."
This interview, according to retired California Superior Court judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, may have poked the bear.
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"I think he's got a problem," she said in an interview with CNN's Kaitlin Collins. "I don't know that that's accurate. He's just making it up."
Cordell argued Trump's statement about the jury's political leanings in itself didn't present a violation, but raised concerns about the message he sent.
"He's sending a message to his MAGA base that, who are not Democrats, that this is bad," Cordell explained. "That these folks — 95% of them — are bad. And so I think he has a big problem."
Trump faces a criminal contempt hearing Tuesday, but it will likely not to confront this specific comment as it doesn't fall into the framework of the initial request by prosecutors, the former judge said.
They would have file a future motion that specifically addresses it.
Merchan narrowed a gag order he imposed on the 45th president meant to bar him from speaking publicly about witnesses, court staff, jurors, as well as family members of both the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg who brought the criminal case charging Trump with falsifying business records.
Should Trump be found to have violated the terms of the gag order, under New York law he can be held in contempt and committed “willful disobedience to [the court’s] lawful mandate,” which could cost him $1,000 per offense and up to 30 days in prison, or both.