'Judge could lock Trump up': Ex-prosecutor explains what could happen if gag order is violated

During Monday's episode of MSNBC's The ReidOut, host Joy Reid spoke with former prosecutor Paul Butler about the possible implications of ex-President Donald Trump's gag orders.

Reid mentioned the gag order Judge Arthur Engoron in Trump's New York civil fraud case imposed earlier this month, in addition to the partial gag order Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will preside over the ex-president's Washington, D.C. January 6 trial in March, imposed Monday, October 16.

Engoron ordered Trump not to attack or comment on court staff after he smeared the judge's clerk on social media, and Chutkan banned the 2024 MAGA hopeful from "attacking witnesses, prosecutors and court staff involved" in the Jan. 6 case, according to Politico.

Reid asked Butler, "What kind of sanctions could these judges impose?"

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He replied, "So, the judge didn't say today what she will do if Trump violates, but she did talk with the lawyers about the different remedies available to her. So she could call Trump into her courtroom and verbally admonish him. She could fine him, making him pay lots of money for every violation. Judge Chutkan can also sentence Trump to home detention, meaning that he couldn't leave one of his residences before and during the trial. Ultimately, the judge could lock Trump up, which probably would have already happened to any defendant who wasn't named Donald Trump, who went around talking about executing witnesses."

Reid then said, "I will note that there was one moment in which the judge, his lawyer, Trump's lawyer John Lauro said that the current conditions of Trump's release are working, and she laughed saying she disagreed. What do you make of the fact she had to reiterate to him that a remedy is not to push the trial until after the election?"

"The Georgetown Law professor replied, "Again, Trump's lawyer said 'Well, the real way that we could solve this whole dilemma is to have the trial after the election.' But the judge was like, 'I said what I said about that. Look, the trial date is in March, and I'm not revisiting that.' She was very firm. She said that she thought that the lawyer was performing as much for Donald Trump as for the courtroom. But she says politics end the moment that the parties enter her courtroom."

Watch the video below or at this link.

'Ultimately, the judge could lock Trump up': ex-prosecutoryoutu.be

READ MORE: Judge Chutkan blasts Trump’s attorney in gag order hearing

Politico's full report is here.