BREAKING: Jail on the table for Trump for contempt at criminal trial

you're watching the legal breakdown so

we are at day one of Donald Trump's

first criminal trial in New York we're

going to have two legal breakdown

episodes today the first is to discuss a

major update on the prospect of trump

being jailed for violating his gag order

that's right now and the next episode

today is going to cover some major news

on the rest of day one including some

surprise jury updates so if for the

viewers if you want to follow along with

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description of this video too so Glenn

judge michan is now considering holding

Trump in contempt for violating his gag

order and we've covered those violations

prior to this clearly Donald Trump

didn't anticipate this walk us through

what contempt hearings would look like

yeah Brian it's really hard to believe

that Donald Trump will not end up in a

jail cell for contempt if judge Maran

applies the law to him the way it would

be applied to anybody else so here's

what's going on Judge Maran has put a

gag order in place prohibiting Donald

Trump from talking about among other

things um the witnesses and the judge's

own family members and of course Donald

Trump has violated that gag order that

prohibition several times over in the

runup to the trial so here's what

happened today the prosecutor said judge

we want a hearing we want you to issue a

show cause hearing we've talked about

those previously to have Donald Trump uh

convince you that he didn't violate the

gag order and or he should not be

punished if he did so the only quibble I

have right now with the way judge Maran

is handling this issue is he set it a

week and a half down the road that's a

problem because does that give Donald

Trump another week and a half to violate

the gag order before he is ever made to

heal before he is ever like compelled

required to actually obey the law the

way any of us would have to obey the law

so as of right now I believe they're

going to take this up on Thursday I

think it's the 23rd yes and they will

decide one whether Donald Trump violated

the gag order spoiler alert he did and

then two far more importantly what is

the punishment what is the sanction now

under New York law there are two

possible sanctions one is a money fine

the problem here is the New York state

law provides only for up to

,000 for each violation of a court order

so what will that mean to Donald Trump

it will mean exactly nothing far more

importantly each violation of a court

order each violation of the gag order

can subject the person to up to 30 days

in jail so what I suspect judge Maran

will do is say okay you violated the gag

order let's just say five times I think

the prosecution presently said um at

least as of this morning's court session

we see at least three violations of the

gag order um so judge Maran could impose

a $1,000 fine for each violation of the

gag order but far more importantly he

will have available as a lawful sanction

under New York state law the the ability

to put him in in jail for up to 30 days

for each violation will it come to that

I have to believe knowing who Donald

Trump is knowing his inability to

control himself knowing his recklessness

he could very well find himself in a New

York jail cell during the pendency of

this trial Glenn do you think we'll see

some type of hybrid approach where maybe

judge Maran imposes the fine which is

basically tant amount to nothing but

will serve as a warning and then say if

we see another violation then I will

Avail myself of the opportunity to throw

you in jail yeah absolutely it's like

you've been in court before Brian

because that's exactly what judges do

they do it incrementally the first

violation they will ordinarily say I'm

giving you a warning the second

violation they will say you're fined

$1,000 and let me put you on notice

defendant Trump if you violate again

after this money find has been imposed

you will be put in a jail cell do you

understand and Donald Trump will you

know Mumble that he understands it's

kind of like he mumbled through some of

his answers today in court um so judges

love to do it incrementally they like to

give a defendant enough rope to sort of

I I hate to use the phrase hang himself

but um because appell at courts like to

see that kind of incremental approach

where you're giving a defendant every

opportunity to comply with a court order

and if a defendant just steadfastly

continues to violate court orders that

is when they find themselves in a jail

cell Glen just real quick on the fact

that this is still um that we still have

a week before this hearing is actually

going to be held to determine whether or

not Trump will be held in contempt is

that kind of Judge michon handing Trump

more rope to again to use that phrase to

hang himself with by allowing him to

commit more of these violations which

would only further hurt him when these

uh when this hearing actually does

happen you know there's actually a

specific reason that I think judge Maran

put this off for a week or a little over

a week now the new New York law it's

actually I think it's called Judiciary

law section 751 says if the contempt

happens in the presence of the judge in

other words if Donald Trump were to do

something in court that would constitute

a violation of not just the gag order

but of any court order then the judge

can summarily hold the person in court

fine them and even order them into a

jail cell but that's only if the

contempt happens in the judge's presence

this didn't you know even in this day

age you can say well everything you post

online kind of happens in everybody's

presence the law is all is often very

slow to catch up to the realities of the

internet age so the New York state law

says if it doesn't happen in the court

or in the judge's presence then there

has to be notice and there has to be an

opportunity for the defendant to present

a defense I think what judge Maran um

decided is listen court is up and

running Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday

he could have tried to squeeze it in

this Wednesday but then the defense

attorneys might have said listen the law

says we have you know we get notice and

an opportunity to defend and we can't be

ready this Wednesday so ultimately judge

Maran first set it for next Wednesday a

week and two days down the road but then

the prosecutor said actually judge can

we do it Thursday morning at 9:30

instead of on that Wednesday and here's

why they said that I know I've been in

this situation they've probably packed a

bunch of Witnesses in for witness prep

on each Wednesday as the trial

progresses so they were probably

counting on the judicial schedule as

previously announced by judge Maran

giving them Wednesdays off so 9:30

Thursday morning a week from this coming

Thursday we will see what the hearing

involves and importantly we will see

what sanction judge Maran chooses to

impose two quick questions on that how

long will that hearing last and how

quickly will it take for judge Maran to

impose his decision so you know criminal

contempt hearings are kind of a rare

bird they don't happen every day so I am

going to give you my best estimate that

it will probably be a hearing that will

take about an hour it won't involve

anything more than you know the

prosecution offering Donald Trump's

posts or statements that he made that

violated the gag order and the defense

trying to come up with some you know

explanation as to why well if it was a

post it wasn't really Donald Trump

posting it and how many of us are going

to believe that or if he was caught

saying it at a rally for example or you

know on one of the faux uh faux news

station interviews it's going to speak

for itself so I think the the hearing

can probably be accomplished in about an

hour or so I have a feeling it will be a

decision that is rendered the minute the

hearing concludes so will probably be

contemporaneous with the hearing itself

unless there is actually some evidence

that's been presented either by the

prosecutors or the defense that the

judge has to mul over or he might have

to go back and read up on some case law

precedent if a legal issue is raised and

contested by the parties but I have a

feeling it will be he will rule either

from the bench at the end of the hearing

itself or maybe later in the day or at

the latest maybe the following day all

of this is my sort of best guess knowing

how judges ordinarily operate okay now

on the gag order itself the violations

seem pretty cut and dry like he was told

not to attack Witnesses and he posted

right there on Truth social attacking

Michael Cohen for example who is a

principal witness in this case is there

any reason why judge michon would opt

not to side with the Manhattan da here

no it it really does undermine the rule

of law and the confidence that the

people have in uh the Integrity of the

proceedings so I cannot Envision judge

Maran reading those posts that we all

saw we saw him attack Michael Cohen a

known witness attack stormmy Daniels a

known witness um so I have to believe

judge mhan will absolutely say that's a

violation of the gag order and really

the only thing left is what is the

appropriate sanction and there has to be

a sanction because if there's no

sanction what are you doing you are

emboldening Donald Trump to you know

engage in even more Reckless rhetoric

and posts and speeches all of it is

endangering the witnesses and I think

chilling the witnesses from being

prepared to come forward take the stand

and testify about what they know

regarding the crimes of Donald Trump

Glenn Trump seems hellbent on delaying

everything obviously is there a world in

which he's basically daring judge michon

to jail him so that he can either

challenge it an appeals court or so that

he could further frame himself as the

victim here you know I don't think it

would be an appealable decision if judge

Maran found that he violated the court

order and imposed a sanction that

included sometime in jail I don't think

that is an instantly appealable issue

what he could do is file a special kind

of appeal called a RIT for either a

petition for a RIT of mandamus or habius

Corpus delivered the body of the person

who's being detained unlawfully he can

try that but um I I don't know that it

would be an appealable issue but what I

am confident of Brian is even if he had

an appeal available to him an instant

appeal of that it wouldn't stop the

trial it wouldn't even slow down the

trial you know his attorneys would have

to multitask the trial would continue

because now really the only thing that

would stop this trial from progressing

is you if somehow the appell at court

swooped in came up with some you know

ruling that suggested he shouldn't be

prosecuted at all like an absolute

presidential immunity issue which is

what brought Donald Trump's DC federal

prosecution to a screeching halt and the

thing is there are no issues left uh in

the New York State prosecution so let

him appeal away let him file for

whatever extraordinary rits he might

think apply in the event he's jailed as

a punishment for his contempt of court

but he'll be fighting a losing battle in

my opinion okay uh and of course we will

stay on top of this as this issue in

particular continues to progress so keep

an eye out for our coverage uh not only

of the entire trial but especially on

Thursday when this issue of Donald Trump

being held in contempt uh actually gets

uh litigated in the courtroom so for

those watching right now if you want to

follow along please make sure to

subscribe again we will be doing

exhaustive coverage of this trial so the

links to both of our channels are right

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subscribe on both of those links I'm

Brian Tyler Cohen and I'm Glenn kersner

you're watching the legal breakdown

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