BREAKING UPDATE on prospect of jailing Trump for contempt in NY trial

you're watching the legal breakdown so

we have a major piece of breaking news

to cover here on day two of Trump's

trial we have the prospect of Donald

Trump being jailed for contempt um and

this is of course in response to the

violation of his gag order but first I

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and also in the post description of this

video uh Glenn yesterday we discussed

Trump being fined or jailed as a result

of his up coming contempt hearing next

week for violating his gag order we've

now got news on that front thanks to a

motion that was filed by the Manhattan

da what is he looking to do to Trump

yeah Brian it is getting very bumpy for

Donald Trump in his first criminal trial

because district attorney Alvin brags

prosecutors made the formal ask they

filed a motion seeking to have um judge

Maran hold Donald Trump in contempt

three times three counts and what I

really want to start with is just one

short paragraph in the motion asking

judge Maran to hold Donald Trump in

contempt because I think it sort of

beautifully sums things up they say this

court warned defendant that any

violation of this gag order will result

in sanctions under New York state law

this court should now hold defendant in

criminal contempt for willfully

disobeying a lawful mandate defendant is

not above the law and he cannot simply

disregard judicial orders that upset him

and both the public and the participant

and the participants in this criminal

trial deserve reassurance that the

judicial system stands ready to protect

them and to preserve the rule of law in

the face of defendants extreme and

deliberate provocations it really

doesn't get more direct more forceful

more pointed than that and they have now

formally asked judge Maran to hold

Donald Trump in contempt for willfully

flagrantly and repeatedly violating

judge maran's gag order now we had

discussed the possibility of a hybrid

approach because there are two avenues

that uh judge Maran can take where he

either um imposes a fine and that can be

capped at $1,000 per violation or jail

time and that would be capped at 30 days

per violation and so what is uh the

Manhattan da seeking to do here in terms

of a punishment so on the last page of

this 133-page motion they set out

precisely what they want judge Maran to

do they say first of all hold him in

contempt three counts and find him the

statutory Max which unfortunately is

only $1,000 on each count for a total of

$3,000 and we are formally asking that

you advise defendant Trump that the next

violation he will be subject to jail

time and you know I actually think this

is becoming real in a concrete way that

it has not yet become for Donald Trump

and frankly for all of us all of us who

frankly have been thirsty for justice

and accountability looking to have

Donald Trump held accountable for just

some of the crimes he's committed and

looking to have him held accountable for

endangering and this is not hyperbole

Brian endangering the lives of everybody

who's involved in the Endeavor to hold

Donald Trump accountable for his crimes

Witnesses jury

District Attorneys and their families

Federal prosecutors and their families

judges their families their Court staff

as of yet we have sacrificed the safety

of all of those people all of those

categories of people in favor of

striking the balance you know in favor

of Donald Trump letting him to continue

to engage in Reckless and inflamatory

and violence inciting rhetoric which has

mystified this old career prosecutor but

it looks like it's finally getting real

for Donald Trump and now the question is

what does Judge marshan do not only with

this first request for contempt I think

I have a pretty good idea what he's

going to do but what does he do when

Donald Trump violates the gag order

again after he's been held in contempt

and so to be clear next week when we

find out uh whether he grants the

Manhattan DA's request to um to impose

jail time if there's another violation

then that's it the line in the in the

sand had will have been drawn and and if

if and when Donald Trump does violate

the gag order again he'll then be

subject to uh to imprisonment is that

correct it is and let me tell you how

this ordinarily plays out because I had

lots of defendants who violated all

sorts of court orders either while they

were on pre-trial release they violated

some condition of pre-trial release set

by the court or uh even more usually

when people were on probation to a court

they would engage in all kinds of

misconduct that would result in a judge

sanctioning them for violating orders of

their release on probation so here's

what judges typically do Brian and I I

can't predict 100% what judge michan

will do ordinarily when the very first

request for contempt comes in because a

defendant has violated a condition set

by the court um the judge will give the

defendant a Stern talking to and say

next time I'm going to up the ante then

the next violation is when the judge

might punish them with a fine and then

usually they say do it again you're

going to jail and then it's almost a

third bite of the Apple before judges

are willing to put somebody in jail for

contempt I think because Donald Trump

has violated the gag order so many times

in so many ways and he's already been

put on notice by judge Maran who

remember had to up his own gag order

over time to make it more inclusive

um I think judge Maran when the hearing

is conducted on Thursday the 23rd of

April we can talk in a minute about why

it's you know a week or more in the

future but I think judge Maran will not

do the stern warning thing I think he'll

go right to the $3,000 fine and I think

he will put Donald Trump on notice that

do it again you're going to go to jail

um and then we can talk about whether

Donald Trump is actually anxious to go

to jail for a day or a week or for the

maximum permitted under New York law

which is 30 days for each count of

contempt right at this point you know to

your exact point I think the political

implications of this would be look if

Donald Trump wants to make himself out

to look like a victim in this case which

of course he does he comes out every day

and he says you know I can't be present

for Baron's High School graduation which

I'm sure he was going to attend um and

which by the way the judge hasn't even

ruled on he's whining that he can't go

to Florida and Georgia and North

Carolina a campaign he's wanting you

know anything he can do to present

himself as the victim seems to be the

Avenue that Donald Trump wants to take

and so judging by the fact that he wants

to present himself as a victim if he can

land himself in detention if he can land

himself into jail cell nothing would be

better for him to cry victim than that

than to than to be able to you know um

play this case out in the court of

public opinion and send his emails and

say that the evil radical communist

Marxist Democrats have jailed me

illegally because they want to do

election interference so I think that at

the end of the day it wouldn't be the

most shocking thing in the world if he

does come forward and try to violate his

gag order on purpose to try and evoke

this kind of a a reaction from Judge

Maran Brian I couldn't agree with you

more I think that is precisely what

Donald Trump is setting up and the thing

is because there is a 30-day cap that is

the maximum under New York state law

that somebody can be confined for

contempt of a court order I I think his

calculation is going to be how much can

I fund raise off being put in jail for a

day or a week or even up to 30 days now

I also predict that when probably not if

but when judge Maran has to cross that

bridge and has to um impose some kind of

a jail term because of Donald Trump's

chronic uh violation of the gag order uh

he'll probably start with three days or

five days um and you know listen 3

minutes is too much for anybody to have

to sit in a jail cell it's deadly

serious business when we take away

somebody's liberty interest I was keenly

aware of that when I was working as as a

prosecutor but I I do think Trump's

calculation will be man I I can sit in a

jail cell for three days and I will

probably fund raise millions and

millions of dollars off of that and that

will probably lead him to again violate

the gag order after he's been held in

contempt the first time and force judge

M's hand but here's the thing whether it

inspires people to actually send Donald

Trump more of their hard-earned dollars

or not to me and I think the Judge Maran

is beside the point you have to enforce

the law and you don't do prosecutorial

or judicial business based on the

collateral consequences like Donald

Trump's fundraising Prospect so I have a

feeling we may see Donald Trump in a

jail cell in the coming weeks right and

it may actually be by Design from Donald

Trump himself also he probably

recognizes that this whole trial doesn't

redown to his benefit anyway and so he

may as well try to try to squeeze you

know some money out of his supporters

while he's doing it and the way to do

that is to say okay look I'm in a trial

I'm in a trial anyway I'm getting poor

coverage might as well just go all in

and get land myself in a jail cell so

that at least I can you know perpetuate

this victimhood narrative and uh and get

some money out of it at the end of the

day yeah and let me just answer the

question that I fronted in case any of

the viewers are interested why do we

have to wait another week and a couple

of days for this to happen well that's

because the New York state law says

there are two ways to find somebody um

guilty of contempt of court for

violating a court order one if the

contempt happens in the presence of the

judge like in court then the judge can

literally bang his or her gavel and say

I find you in contempt I'm finding you

and I order you detained for X number of

days however if the contempt does not

occur in the presence of the Court like

it's in a social media post then the New

York state law says the defendant has to

be given notice and an opportunity to

defend that is what Alvin Bragg's

prosecutors did today they gave him

notice he will have an opportunity to

defend himself come 9:30 a.m. on

Thursday the 20th 3rd and that is when I

suspect we're going to see a former

president of the United States being

held in criminal contempt remember he's

already twice been held in civil

contempt by judge engoron in his New

York fraud trial when he violated judge

en goran's gag orders so now we're

moving forward we're going to see a

former president I believe held in

criminal contempt for the first time all

right well we'll leave it there uh for

those watching right now of course if

you want to follow along Glenn and I

will be will be uh covering every facet

of this trial so please make sure to

subscribe to both of our channels the

links are right here on the screen I'm

Brian T Cohen and I'm Glenn kersner

you're watching the legal breakdown

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