The most remarkable thing about what Trump has repeatedly done
on the campaign trail is just repeatedly vilify and attack
the very judge who's presiding over this case.
We have a Trump hating judge.
I don't think there's ever been a more conflicted judge,
crooked and conflicted arm.
Unconstitutionally gagged. He gagged me.
So I'm not even supposed to be,
I would say, talking to you because
he gagged me. I think in the political arena,
he wants to paint himself as a victim
of this process, a victim of the judge himself.
President Trump does in fact know what the gag order
allows him to do and not allow him to do.
He's not allowed to attack witnesses,
jurors, other people in the case,
but he is allowed to attack the judge himself so
far.
And so while it might actually hurt him in court,
he has found it politically advantageous to do so.
It wasn't the press that went to him,
He went to the press.
Nobody is forcing him, but he is running for president.
He has to be able to speak.
The annoyance for the prosecution is that there's a very
clear gag order with very clear restrictions on what Trump
can say,
and that's quite common in criminal trials.
And Trump is repeatedly toeing up to that line,
testing those limits, and in 10 cases he has been
found to have violated those limits.
It's clearly willful, clearly knowing the defendant thinks the rules
should be different for him.
Trump is not just a criminal defendant,
of course. He's running for president and his position is
he has the 1st Amendment right to speak in the
political arena,
and that includes attacking his perceived enemies.
And there is no dispute,
I think, among anybody, the court or the government,
that political attacks and responses to political attacks does not
violate the gag order.
I don't think the fines themselves have any impact on
Trump whatsoever.
He can easily afford them,
and indeed he's using the contempt finding and the fines
to raise more money for his campaign.
It appears that the $1000 fines are not serving as
a deterrent.
The judge made it very clear that if
Trump continues to violate the gag order,
the judge is going to consider going beyond these
$1000 fines. Mr. Trump, it's important to understand that the
last thing I want to do is to put you
in jail.
But at the end of the day,
I have a job to do,
and part of that job is to protect the dignity
of the judicial system and compel respect.
Your continued violations of this court's lawful order threatened to
interfere with the administration of justice in constant attacks,
which constitute a direct attack on the rule of law.
I cannot allow that to continue.
I think for any other criminal defendant,
in any typical case repeatedly violating a gag order the
way that Trump has done,
repeatedly commenting, criticizing witnesses, jurors and other people involved in
the case,
defendants would have already found themselves in a jail cell
for criminal contempt.