Prosecutors said Thursday that Donald Trump again violated a gag order in his hush money trial, as the criminal case resumed on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court weighed whether he should be immune from prosecution for actions taken during his time as president.

Judge Juan M. Merchan was already considering whether to hold Trump in contempt and fine him for what prosecutors say were 10 different violations of the order that barred the GOP leader from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and others connected to the case. Then the prosecution ticked off fresh instances of suspected breaches.

Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy pointed to additional remarks that Trump made about key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, when talking to reporters outside the courtroom and in other interviews. He also noted a comment Trump made about the jury being composed of “95 percent Democrats,” among other things.

      • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Dear [address on mailing list],

        This is unbelievable. Donald Trump just stood in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shot someone. We need you to donate right now so etc.

    • theprogressivist @lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      They are. Can’t you see it went from finger wagging to a firm tone? Next will be a strongly worded letter if he keeps up his shenanigans.

      • Lemminary@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Oh no, he’ll get a slap on the wrist with the touch of a feather. How dare the courts prosecute him so!

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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      6 months ago

      Someone said they thought this was due to Trump abusing the appeals system. I have no way to judge the merit, but it seemed logical enough.

      • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
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        6 months ago

        the reality is trump long-ago found the primary failure in our ‘justice’ system, and thats ‘time’. appeal enough, drag it out long enough you will win. either outright or tacitly as whatever it is is no longer relevant.

        its the goal of literally every thing he has ever done legally. if you look at it through that lens it all makes sense. combine that with court system stacked with ultra-right wing crazy people and you have a fascist movement in the works.

        • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          6 months ago

          To be fair, that said tactic is used by just about every legal team backed by millions. Just drag shit out forever while the other side bleeds money. It’s why small businesses and individuals are fucked when up against the rich. It doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong in our justice system when big money is involved.

    • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      I think they are fining him, but it’s only $1,000 for every instance? If that’s true, then I know people personally that would never care about that fine, and they aren’t being regularly supported with donations from millions of people.

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        He can be sentenced to prison for violating the gag order, but that’s rarely necessary, so it wouldn’t be the first step.

  • azimir@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    He only cares if you actually stop him through force: take his money, his freedom, or his voice. Until then, he’ll destroy you and everything around him to get what he wants. This is one of the most caustic and dangerous people to exist in the world today because people protect him and follow in his wake of destruction to their own ends.

    • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Yeah, the way the Biden administration drug their feet on prosecuting him and his supporters because they didn’t want to appear “partisan” really was an inexcusable dereliction of duty that needs to be discussed more if we manage to survive this year with a semi-functional democracy intact. Certain factions of the Democratic party have been excusing and normalizing criminal and traitorous actions by Republicans going back to the Vietnam war era because that’s a lot easier than ripping this corruption out root and branch, and that is directly responsible for the degradation we’ve seen from Nixon interfering in Vietnam peace talks, to Reagan interfering in Iranian hostage negotiations, to W stealing an election, and now most recently Trump trying to steal an election.

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    6 months ago

    Enough games. If you can’t get him to shut up, go over his head to every social media site he blabs on and hand them legal orders to remove the offending comments and disable his accounts.

  • theprogressivist @lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    “If a president sells nuclear secrets to a foreign adversary, was that immune?” Kagan asked.

    Sauer responded that if it is “structured as an official act,” the president could not be prosecuted unless he is first impeached and removed from office by Congress.

    “How about if the president orders the military to stage a coup?” Kagan asked Sauer.

    “That may well be an official act,” Sauer responded, meaning no prosecution without impeachment and removal first. Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Sauer if a president could get immunity if he ordered “someone to assassinate” a political rival. Roberts raised an example of a president appointing an ambassador in exchange for a bribe.

    “Somebody says, 'I’ll give you a million dollars if I’m made the ambassador to whatever,” Roberts said.

    Sauer responded that bribery is not an official act but rather private conduct that would not be protected. Roberts responded, “Accepting a bribe isn’t an official act, but appointing an ambassador is certainly within the official responsibilities of the president.”

    Jesus fucking Christ.

    • zaph@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      the president could not be prosecuted unless he is first impeached and removed from office by Congress

      How convenient for Republicans who said “don’t bother with impeachment, just try him as a criminal in 2 weeks”