Elie Mystal, the justice correspondent for The Nation, joined CNN’s Laura Coates on Tuesday to discuss the gag order that a judge recently imposed on Donald Trump in advance of his hush-money criminal trial. The order is meant to stop Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, and jurors in his upcoming criminal trial.
Coates asked whether Trump might “abide” by this new gag order, but Mystal reminded everyone that Trump “is incapable of shutting his mouth,” pointing out that Trump received this gag order because of his penchant to publicly attack everyone not named Donald Trump. “He attacks judges, their staff, their families, the lawyers, their families, witnesses, jurors, hurricanes, windmills,” Mystal said. “The man only does attack.”
“In the courtroom, the judge is the boss, the judge is the king, not Donald Trump,” Mystal continued. “That is a fact that Trump has a hard time dealing with.”
Since Mystal seemed pretty sure Trump would violate his gag order, Coates asked what would happen to him if he did, and Mystal had this response:
I almost can’t answer that question because I’m Black. If I violated the gag order, I would be in jail. That’s how it works for people who look like me. For people who look like Trump, for people who act like Trump, for people with the political power and money and connections that Trump has, I doubt very seriously that the judge will jail him as he’s supposed to for running his mouth.
Mystal’s prediction came true: Trump just “can’t shut up.” Just hours later, Trump used his Truth Social account to attack the judge and his daughter.
According to the Associated Press, the gag order “does not bar comments about [Judge Juan] Merchan or his family, nor does it prohibit Trump from criticizing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg,” who is prosecuting Trump in the case. Last year, Trump lost an appeal of a gag order handed down by Judge Arthur Engoron in Donald’s civil fraud trial. That order was put in place to protect courtroom staff from Trump’s attacks. Shortly after its reinstatement, though, Trump went after Judge Engoron’s wife.
What is clear is that Trump’s persecution complex, coupled with his big ignorant mouth, is not going to be stemmed by a narrow bench order. Judge Merchan has scheduled the trial to begin on April 15.
President Joe Biden’s approval ratings have been improving since his fiery State of the Union speech—as we predicted. At the same time, the Republican Party cannot stop the infighting, even as Donald Trump’s takeover seems to be complete. Markos and Kerry get into Biden’s improving fundamentals as the race to save America heats up.