Judges may 'have no choice' but to jail Trump if he keeps up attacks: legal expert

During an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," contributor Ken Dilanian stated that legal experts whom he has spoken with are growing increasingly concerned about Donald Trump's attacks on judges and prosecutors who are pursuing cases against him and they may be forced to have him taken into custody and jailed to get his attention.

Speaking with hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinski, the legal affairs expert said the former president's heightened rhetoric over being indicted is putting judges in an awkward position.

As part of a discussion on Trump "witness tampering," Dilanian stated he has been speaking with legal experts about the unprecedented territory of prosecuting a former president.

"It's a really horrible dilemma that all these judges are in because Donald Trump is running for president, and political speech is the most protected speech under the First Amendment," he began. "Yet, normally, a criminal defendant would not be allowed to get away with trying to influence the jury pool by impugning the prosecutors."

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"But a lot of experts I talked to, even ones very critical of Trump, think that these judges are going to have to choice but to let him do almost everything, except threaten like he did the other day with, you know, 'If you come after me, I'm coming after you,'" he continued. "That's what they think would cross the line, threats against judges or prosecutors."

"Then there is a horrible situation of what do the judges leverage?" he continued. "They can fine him, but the ultimate leverage is they can throw him in jail. Now, we're into this situation where a person with lifetime Secret Service protection, can they be jailed? How will the Secret Service react? How will the marshals react. We say this all the time, but we are in really dangerous, uncharted territory with these legal cases against the former president."