Trump's lawyers could pay the price if he violates gag orders

Donald Trump has already established a strategy for defying gag orders imposed against him in his criminal and civil trials.

The former president has been attacking judges, prosecutors, court staff and witnesses in social media posts, which prompt gag orders that he then appeals and never takes down the offending posts that then inspire violent threats against his targets – and legal experts predict he'll keep it up, reported The Daily Beast.

"We can fully expect anything that Trump thinks worked for him once, he will use again," said Catherine Ross, a professor emeritus at George Washington University Law School. "He is testing, he is refining, and one would even speculate that he is issuing warnings to other judges: ‘You can’t tie me down. I’m impervious.'"

A federal appeals court warned on Friday that his public statements posed "a significant and imminent threat" to the legal cases against him, but his repeated attacks on New York judge Arthur Engoron and his chief clerk in spite of court-ordered prohibitions shows he will test the boundaries and dare the court to impose sanctions.

“If you have someone who is unwilling to demonstrate respect for the litigation process and to court officials — and who has the platform to manifest disrespect in ways that are potentially harmful to those officials through speech — I think it’s very difficult for a judge to address the problem,” said Aziz Z. Huq, a professor at University of Chicago law school.

Trump's status as a former president and Republican presidential frontrunner complicates matters because it's unlikely a judge would throw him in jail, but his lawyers could face consequences if their client violates the gag order and refuses to take down the posts.

“Courts have more power to regulate lawyers than they do the parties," Huq said. "If a lawyer does something in the courtroom, it’s very clear the courts have inherent authority to hold them in contempt."