The mayor of New York, Democrat Eric Adams, stated that Rikers Island prison is ready to receive former US President Donald Trump if he were sentenced to prison for violating the “gag order” he faces in his criminal trial in Manhattan.
Adams also referred to his New York Department of Corrections commissioner, Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, and her team, who he said will be ready if the time comes. “When it comes to law enforcement, we have to adapt to whatever comes. We don’t want to talk about hypotheses, but we have professionals there and they are prepared to receive everyone,” the mayor said at a press conference.
The gag order
Trump is accused, with 34 charges, of having disguised as legal expenses of the Trump Organization, the family business, the payment of $130,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels through her former lawyer Michael Cohen Cohen to keep silent about an alleged sexual relationship in 2006, shortly after after having married his current wife, Melania Trump, and the son they have in common, Barron, was born. The magnate would have done this to protect his campaign for the 2016 presidential elections, which he ultimately won against Democrat Hillary Clinton. This accusation can result in a sentence of up to four years in prison.
Within the framework of the criminal trial, Judge Juan Merchan fined the politician twice for violating the “gag order” that prohibits him from referring to the witnesses in the case and warned him about the possibility of imprisoning him. The last of the sanctions was established on Monday, with $1,000 for contemptbecause the former president continued to publicly accuse the witnesses involved in the process opened in New York. “The last thing I want is to put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president too, but I have a job to do and part of that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system”Merchan remarked on Tuesday.
As he left court on Monday, the magnate referred to the fines he received and the warnings from Merchan. “This judge put a gag order on me and said I will go to jail if he violates it, but our Constitution is much more important than jail. I will make that sacrifice,” he said.
The judge already fined Trump $9,000 last week, considering several public statements on his social network, Truth Social, and on his campaign website, in which he attacked some of the witnesses, punishable. That week, the former president expressed his discontent, calling his situation a “witch hunt” against him and saying that Merchán had taken away his “constitutional right to freedom of expression.” “I am the only presidential candidate in history to be gagged,” he mentioned on social networks.
Postponed trial
If he enters prison, Trump would become the first former president behind bars, as he is already the first criminally accused, facing 88 criminal charges for various legal proceedings opened in courts in various cities and for different crimes. However, it’s not all bad news for the Republican. Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday indefinitely postponed the trial date in Florida for the mishandling of confidential documents found in her possession after leaving the White House. The judge’s decision makes it unlikely that the trial will take place before the presidential elections next November. Originally, the trial was scheduled to begin on May 20.
In his order, Cannon argued that there are many complicated legal rules and deadlines related to the use of classified evidence in public criminal trials that must be considered before choosing a new hearing date. Cases involving classified documents must follow the legal rules and procedures required under the Classified Information Procedures Act, or CIPA, and generally move more slowly than standard cases.
The decision represents a blow to special counsel Jack Smith, who accused Trump’s lawyers of trying to misuse the three other criminal cases against him as a way to misdirect and delay legal proceedings in Florida. Defense attorneys argued that holding any trial too close to the election would amount to election interference, and that if Cannon cannot delay the classified documents case until after November, he should schedule it for August.
According to the newspaper Washington Post, If Trump returns to the White House, he could appoint an attorney general who is willing to drop federal charges against him.. In turn, Justice Department policy prohibits criminal prosecution of a sitting president.
In addition to the cases in New York and Florida, Trump has two other court cases on his hands: he faces trials in Washington and Georgia for his attempt to reverse the results of the 2020 elections, in which he lost against the current president, Democrat Joe Biden, and for having instigated the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
