Trump Violates Gag Order Again

This time he is violating the judge’s prohibition against directing others to attack witnesses.

New York magazine’s Andrew Rice said on MSNBC that during the trial he personally witnessed Trump “editing” and “making notations” to quotes submitted by GOP allies before they made them to media outside.

That is a violation of the gag order if Trump is providing daily talking points to surrogates who attack witnesses. The order bans “making or causing others to make” prohibited statements.

When Judge Merchan found Trump in contempt of court a second time last week and fined him again, he made it clear that jail time was the only remaining option. In this instance he is violating the order in the courtroom in front of the judge!

Just yesterday a 5-judge New York appeals unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the gag order, ruling that it  “properly determined that the defendant’s public statements posed a significant threat to witnesses and potential witnesses in this case, ensuring they are free from threats, intimidation, harassment and harm.”

With the trial coming to a close and to avoid an interruption Merchan can choose to wait and put him in jail for gag violations after the trial is finished.

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Author: craigcrawford

Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks.

61 thoughts on “Trump Violates Gag Order Again”

  1. craig, thanks for catching them on their note-passing scheme. magaT mikey did look a bit uncomfortable obviously reading someone else’s words when it was his turn of obeisance to the cult god.

    Attribution: Trump trial gag order by Dave Granlund, PoliticalCartoons.com

  2. next stops the fed courts and the supremes?

    New York court rejects Trump’s appeal of gag order in “hush money” trial – CBS News

    […]
    In a five-page ruling on Tuesday, the appellate division, first department of the New York Supreme Court, found that Merchan “properly determined that [Trump’s] public statements posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses in this case.”
    “We find that Justice Merchan properly weighed petitioner’s First Amendment Rights against the court’s historical commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice in criminal cases, and the right of persons related or tangentially related to the criminal proceedings from being free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm,” the ruling said.
    [continues]

  3. colbert cold open

    Donald Trump has his MAGA puppets lined up outside the courthouse to defend him.

  4. stephen’s monologue

    Michael Cohen’s testimony in Trump’s hush money trial reveals a man who likes to act like a mafia boss, Melania Trump suggested her husband brush off the “Access Hollywood” tape as “locker room talk,” and the former president’s congressional allies are giving dumb speeches outside the courthouse.

  5. meanwhile, future trials of high crimes and misdemeanors on the horizon:

    Top US ethics watchdog investigating Trump over dinner with oil bosses | Donald Trump | The Guardian

    […]

    Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) has told the Guardian that it is investigating the dinner at Trump’s club with more than 20 oil and gas company executives. Trump asked them for a $1bn presidential campaign contribution, while at the same time vowing to undo Joe Biden’s restrictions on natural gas export permits, oil drilling and car pollution, the Washington Post reported.

    Virginia Canter, Crew’s chief ethics counsel, said the group’s lawyers were investigating what she called a matter of considerable concern. “We’re taking a very serious look at whether Trump’s fundraising pitch to the oil executives for $1bn would merit some further action,” she said.

    Canter added that details of the discussion between the former president and the oil companies were troubling. “This was a very focused small group directed at a particular industry, there was an amount put out there of $1bn, which he described as a deal, which all raises questions about the transactional nature of the meeting.”

    News of Crew’s investigation came as House Democrats announced their own inquiry into the Mar-a-Lago dinner. Letters were sent from the House oversight committee on Monday to nine oil executives asking for details of their companies’ participation.

    Sheldon Whitehouse, the senator from Rhode Island who chairs the Senate budget committee, which has subpoena powers, is also considering an investigation. In a statement, he told the Guardian that Trump’s reported pledge to tear up fossil-fuel restrictions on day one of a second Trump administration, combined with the request for campaign money, was an “offer of a blatant quid pro quo”.

    Whitehouse said it was “practically an invitation to ask questions about big oil’s political corruption and manipulation”. He added that his budget committee was looking at “how to ensure the industry cannot simply buy off politicians in order to saddle taxpayers with the bill”.

    [continues]

  6. How much thought and analysis does it take to conclude that a politician telling donors from a single industry that “if you give me a $1B donation I’ll change laws so you can profit from those changes” constitutes corruption? It might pass muster if the donation goes ONLY to campaign funding accounts that Dumbass could not divert or cause to be diverted to pay for, just as an example, legal fees. Think that would ever happen? Jesus H!!!

  7. Wasn’t JD Vance and other MAGAts showing up in court to stare down Cohen witness intimidation?   

    The next time any of them use Jesus’ name, or try to hide behind the Bible, it should be pointed out that they showed up for a treasonous, conman who also cheated on his wife while she was home with their newborn child.

  8. blueINdallassays:
    May 14, 2024 at 9:30 pm

    https://people.com/chiefs-harrison-butker-criticized-graduation-speech-attacking-working-women-quoting-taylor-swift-8648547

    “Chiefs’ Harrison Butker Criticized for Graduation Speech Attacking Working Women While Quoting Taylor Swift” “The 28-year-old’s address at the May 11 ceremony decried various “diabolical lies told to women” about topics including abortion, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy, as well as President Joe Biden.” “During the 20-minute speech, Butker quoted a lyric written by Taylor Swift, referring to her through her boyfriend Travis Kelce by calling her his “teammate’s girlfriend.” “As my teammate’s girlfriend says, ‘familiarity breeds contempt,’ ” Butker said. Swift, 34, sings the line in her song, “Bejeweled” on her 2022 album, Midnights.  

    The Chiefs kicker then went on to address the female graduates in the room directly. 

    “For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment,” he began. “I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you.” Butker continued, “Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”

    Speaking about his wife, Butker said, “I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.” He said that he is “beyond blessed” because Isabelle “would convert to the faith, become my wife, and embrace one of the most important titles of all: Homemaker.”

    Later, he addressed the male graduates directly, advising them to “be unapologetic in your masculinity,” and to “fight against the cultural emasculation of men,” in his speech.

    “As men, we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction and chaos set in. This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation.”

    Elsewhere in his speech, Butker took aim at the LGBTQ+ community, calling their pride “deadly sins.”

    This is the wrongheadedness we’re fighting against in ROEvember.   How could they allow hate speech like this at a college graduation?  Oh, yeah.  Organized religion. 

    Does the NFL allow hate speech? I know they allow their players to get away with violence against women in a regular basis, so probably.

  9. BiD, the thought of JD Vance’s staring at a former NYC fixer/lawyer and ex-con constituting intimidation is almost laughable. That might be the intent but if there’s one thing JD ain’t it’s intimidating. 

  10. Donald Trump looks sullen as two men in suits confer.

    “He keeps violating the gag order — have we tried offering him hush money?”

    Cartoon in The New Yorker by Brooke Bourgeois and Scott Polhemus

  11. put him in jail for gag violations after the trial is finished.

     
    Yay, put him in The Hole. One day for each violation. 

  12. donny deutsch on the jailing option:

    The ad man and MSNBC contributor told Nicolle Wallace that, “despite his references to Nelson Mandela,” a jail sentence would be Trump’s worst nightmare.

    “I remember interviewing ‘The Wolf of Wall Street,’ and he told me what it’s literally going through the process, what it’s like, and what they examine, and how they do things,” Deutsch said, continuing:

    Donald Trump — and we were talking off camera, and you brought up the point in the last segment that he won’t eat food when he goes on foreign territory. You have to use the bathroom. His hair. His makeup. His skin. Like, he will be pulled apart. He doesn’t have the mettle to do it.

    So, anybody that’s out there saying, “Oh, it’s a great moment for him” — this is not a mug shot. This is jail. And Donald Trump is terrified. You’ve got to believe, just by his issues with odors and smells and, you know, fear of disease. This guy does not want to spend 30 — nobody does, but particularly this guy.

  13. reposting for emphasis on the realities and humiliation awaiting

    “… have to use the bathroom. His hair. His makeup. His skin. Like, he will be pulled apart.”

  14. No one will be tossing him rolls of paper towels. Only three sheets of toilet paper a day. 

  15. It’s not like he’d be in the big house doing hard time with the likes of Spike, Killer, and Butch……yeah, I think they’d provide him with a suite….you know, with a mini-fridge and a microwave with maybe a chaise lounge and a baroque side table for his Diet Pepsi—(no coke).

  16. I think they should try the jail option, because why not?

    No more Mr Nice Judges.

  17. Debate on debate begins.

    Biden on video: “Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020, since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate. Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal. I hear you’re free on Wednesdays”

  18. Trump wants the make it a pro wrestling extravaganza with raucus crowd. Hope it’s a serious in- studio event..

    Donald J. Trump

    @realDonaldTrump

    Crooked Joe Biden is the WORST debater I have ever faced – He can’t put two sentences together! Crooked is also the WORST President in the history of the United States, by far. It’s time for a debate so that he can explain to the American People his highly destructive Open Border Policy, new and ridiculous EV Mandates, the allowance of Crushing Inflation, High Taxes, and his really WEAK Foreign Policy, which is allowing the World to “Catch on Fire.” I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September. I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds – That’s only because he doesn’t get them. Just tell me when, I’ll be there. “Let’s get ready to Rumble!”

    May 15, 2024, 8:43 AM

  19. Biden has already won the debate on debates. Trump waived negotiating any terms because he repeatedly said he would debate any time, anywhere, any place, any format. Thought that was a dumb move when I heard it.

  20. Except for he doesn’t have to mean anything he says. The more he jerks everyone around, the better his jerks like it. 

  21. Win or lose, after this election, Plumpty will not need his voters anymore. He will dispose of them. 

  22. Favorite scratched from Preakness — good news for Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (msn.com)

    Trainer Bob Baffert said Muth spiked a temperature after arriving at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Tuesday, leaving no choice but to withdraw him from the race.

    […]

    The scratch leaves a field of eight for the Preakness, with Mystik Dan the heavy favorite. Should he win, he would need only the June 8 Belmont Stakes to complete the Triple Crown sweep.

    Because of construction at Belmont Park, that race is being run this year at Saratoga in upstate New York, with the distance reduced from 1 1/2 miles to 1 1/4 miles.

  23. Blinken rockin’ in the free world as reported by the guardian:

    Antony Blinken with a red guitar performing on stage.

    It was an unexpected moment at the end of a long day in Kyiv for Antony Blinken, after numerous high-level meetings and serious pronouncements promising the speedy delivery of US military aid. The secretary of state picked up a guitar and performed a rendition of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World with a Ukrainian rock band.
    The images, quickly shared on social media, split opinion in Ukraine, with the performance one of the main topics of discussion in Kyiv on Wednesday. Some hailed Blinken’s turn as a welcome gesture of support, while others questioned the optics of performing in a bar while the situation at the front is so tense.
    Blinken took to the stage at Barman Dictat, a well-known speakeasy-style bar in central Kyiv hidden in a basement inside a courtyard, and joined the Ukrainian band 19.99.
    “Your soldiers, your citizens – particularly in the north-east, in Kharkiv – are suffering tremendously,” Blinken said before playing. “But they need to know, you need to know, the United States is with you, so much of the world is with you and they’re fighting not just for a free Ukraine, but for the free world. And the free world is with you, too.”
    The band were told before the event that they would be performing with Neil Young, said one member, but were asked to keep it a secret. It was only at the last minute that they realised their guest member would be the secretary of state.
    “He was connecting with eyes, with our band leader, with me … It was our first performance on stage but it feels like we were a band for two years,” the guitarist Arsen Gorbach told BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday.
    Gorbach said the choice of song had come from Blinken, and described the performance as “a very important point of Ukrainian history and cultural history”.
    [continues]

  24. Some hailed…while others questioned

    what a shitty, lazy, faux-objective journalistic habit the “some said, others said else” has become
     
    i suppose one can no longer tell what’s AI generated at this point
     
    i haven’t picked a horse, pat

  25. “it was 68 degrees and party cloudy today.  Some praised the weather, while others complained about it”

  26. “The farmer’s market has broccoli today.  Some hailed the inclusion, while others said they don’t like broccoli”
     
    i learned so much!

  27. Presidential debates are on for June 27 on CNN in Atlanta studio, and Sept. 10 on ABC

    “Trump says he’ll arrange his own transportation,” Biden wrote on X. “I’ll bring my plane, too. I plan on keeping it for another four years.”

  28. You Won’t Believe This Epic Takedown of Broccoli By Farmer’s Market Patrons”

  29. if you put “x dot com” into a browser it redirects you to
     
    twitter dot com
     
    😆😶✌️

  30. Biden says he is ‘alarmed’ after Slovakian prime minister’s shooting | The Hill

    […]
    Slovakian President Peter Pellegrini, a close ally of Fico, called the shooting an “assassination attempt” that was “a threat to everything that has adorned Slovak democracy so far.”
    “An assassination attempt on one of the highest constitutional officials is an unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy,” he wrote on the social platform X. “If we express different political opinions with guns in the squares, and not in polling stations, we endanger everything we have built together in 31 years of Slovak sovereignty.”
    [continues]

    wish the jan6 deniers would take this warning by the slovak prez  to heart “If we express different political opinions with guns in the squares, and not in polling stations, we endanger everything…” and denounce their magaT cult god.

  31. Jamie,  I’ll move to Imagination.
     
    patd, I don’t think the official acts crack that SCOTUS overturned McDonnell’s case on isn’t at issue in the Dumbass/energy exec scenario.  Any act he might take to improve the economic standings of energy donors would be official acts. His words would establish the quid pro quo. I would say it’s a much easier case to make in the event they make the requested contribution,  Dumbass is re-elected and Dumbass makes or causes to be made the changes he offered.

  32. Let me know who wants to ride which horses

    1.  Mugatu 20 – 1

     

    2.  Uncle Heavy 20 – 1 – Ivy Green / Sturgeone

     

    3.  Catching Freedom 6 – 1 – Craig

     

    Muth Scratched 

     

    5.  Mystic Dan 5 – 2 – Jack / Patd 

     

    6.  Seize the Grey 15 – 1 – Jamie

     

    7.  Just Steel 15 – 1

     

    8.  Tuscan Gold 8 – 1

     

    9.  Imagination 6 – 1 – Renee 

  33. Orange Adolf wants a riot that POTUS  Joe wouldn’t be heard over.   Orange Adolf is afraid of silence.  He’s afraid that his hateful nonsense would be heard in intimate setting with no audience.  Cutting off his mic so he can’t talk over POTUS Joe is also not to his liking.
     
    If CNN is a serious news channel that  wants a serous debate and not just a sideshow, it will make sure those two things  happen: no audience and cut this mic when time is up. 

  34. patd,  please ignore the double negative in the 1st sentence of the McDonnell comment – “isn’t” should be “is”. (Hasty editing)

  35. Need to look at the map but this could affect my travel next week. 

    Pelican Island is only a few miles wide and is home to Texas A&M University at Galveston, a large shipyard and industrial facilities. Fewer than 200 people were on the campus when the collision happened, and all were eventually allowed to drive on the bridge to leave. The marine and maritime research institute said it plans to remain closed until at least Friday. Students who live on campus were allowed to remain there, but university officials warned those who live on campus and leave “should be prepared to remain off campus for an unknown period of time.”

     
    https://apnews.com/article/bridge-barge-galveston-texas-6c112f0032ab88fbdd0c78d1957247c8

  36. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/15/biden-trump-pardon-mitt-romney
     

    “Had I been President Biden,” Romney said, “when the justice department brought out indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him. I’d have pardoned President Trump.”

    “Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned the little guy. And, number two, it’s not going to get resolved before the election. It’s not going to have an impact before the election. And, frankly, the country doesn’t want to have to go through prosecuting a former president.”

    Willard, you lying jackass! this is different than anything that has ever happened in the history of our country. Donald J. tRUMP tried to overthrow the government! There is still a slow-rolling coup in progress, and now you are standing up for it.

    I hope Mittens rots in hell if there is one, because he knows better. Propping up MAGAts. Despicable! Saying that there should’ve been a pardon just amps up Fox Noise and the other nazi-news outlets.

    “Biden could not pardon Trump on his other 44 charges, at the state level.”

    ps – Mittens strapped the family dog in its carrier to the top of the car. It’s not a gun in a gravel pit, but it showed little regard for the dog’s safety. FU, Mitt!

  37. Come on, Mittens!  
    Plumpty needs to be restrained for his own safety as much as ours.

  38. If we can sentence him to the dog cage on top of Mittens station wagon, I’ll be satisfied.  

  39. “Beatle-esque” = high praise

    i thought this song was evidence of McCartney/Lennon genius but they didn’t write it

  40. Mitt has a quarter of a billion dollars, and he doesn’t seem like there would be much dirt on him, so why is he helping the MAGAt movement?  Orange Adolf wouldn’t pick him for VP.  Why, Mitt, why? 

  41. … you can hear her voice resonating off of the studio walls towards the end
     
    rodgers and carlson just cultivating a customer base of suckers for supplements and such

    rodgers also probably hitting the psychedelics too much, i.e. “plant-based medicine”

    (football guy an admitted psychedelic user btw)

    ok thx for the song! ✌️ 🎶 🇺🇸

  42. Re: The debate(s) —> I hope the moderator(s) refer to tRUMPsky as “Mr.” and POTUS Joe as “President.”   I hope POTUS Joe refers to him as “defendant.”

  43. Soooo, Dumbass’ debate taunt… is there a difference between anywhere and anyplace that I’m missing? 

    And which of the 6 debates Dumbass skipped did he steal the empty podium from ?
     
     LOL Asking for a friend.

  44. https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/15/business/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-chubb-stake/index.html
    “Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a major stake in the insurance company Chubb, finally revealing the investment he has kept under wraps since last year.”
    “Berkshire revealed it acquired nearly 26 million shares of Chubb in a Wednesday Securities and Exchange Commission filing of the company’s first quarter investments. That translates to a value of approximately $6.7 billion.”
     
    “Buffett’s company had shielded the position from public knowledge as it was building the stake, requesting “confidential treatment” from the SEC in previous filings.”
    “Chubb, an insurance business that operates in 54 countries, made headlines in March after the company underwrote President Donald Trump’s nearly $92 million appeal bond in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit.”
    “It has seemingly doubled down on financial companies like Ally Financial, American Express and Bank of America while trimming its investments in consumer products.”
     
     
     

  45. I saw Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” in 63  somewhere in the South Pacific………good times

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