A former judge told CNN that Donald Trump should face consequences when he violates the gag order put in place by the judge overseeing his hush money case.
Judge Juan Merchan issued the order on Tuesday barring Trump from making public comments about witnesses, court staff, and jurors. The order didn’t extend to the judge, his family or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
It is a loophole that Trump exploited within hours of the new gag order by relentlessly attacking Merchan’s daughter, the judge, who he says suffers “from an acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, and Bragg.
Bragg’s office is trying to close that loophole by asking Merchan to “clarify or confirm” that his gag order applies to family members.
In an interview with CNN on Sunday former Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell said the gag order should be extended to the judge and his family.
“Judge Merchan I believe should immediately expand the gag order to include himself and his family members and include D.A. Bragg and his family members,” she said. “I tell you I fail to understand why judges do not include themselves and their family members in these gag orders. They haven’t done so. Their lives and the lives of their families have been subjected to death threats, all because of Donald Trump’s words, and that kind of speech is not protected by the First Amendment.”
Cordell added that there should only be one response “when” Trump violates the gag order: jail.
“When he steps across then gag order line, and I do hope that will be expanded, there should be only one response: ‘Bring your toothbrush, Donald Trump, because you’re going to sit in a jail cell for a while.’ There has to be an immediate consequence when he defies a court order. That is a normal response,” Cordell said.
She continued: “You cannot have a court system that is subjected to these kinds of threats and intimidation. Nowhere else has this ever happened and gone on without any consequences, and that has to change, and it has to change now.”
