Trump is pushing Judge Chutkan to send him to jail: legal analyst
With Donald Trump drawing the ire of U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, a conversation has reemerged about the former president ending up behind bars.
It isn't only that Trump could be held in contempt of court. Chutkan also said that continued violations of her rule not to disparage the case, the prosecutors or witnesses will only speed up his trial. A faster trial means a quicker verdict and sentence along with it.
Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman responded to Trump's claim on Sunday to "Meet the Press" that he's not afraid of prison and doesn't even think about it. Instead, it's nothing more than a political witch hunt he assumes will disappear under the law. It's a calculation that Litman doesn't think will end in Trump's favor.
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"There is an irony here. He keeps calling it political. In fact, the system is bending over backward to keep it from being so," said Litman. "And that means they're trying too hard to treat him like any other person. Well, if he gets convicted, and his prospects are strong for being convicted, of crimes that send other people to jail for say 10 years, there is almost no way to keep him from going there. He's rolling the dice on a political victory. But back in the legal system, yes, he's seriously looking at the prospect of time in prison, and as unfathomable as it seems, that is the direction it is going very strongly in."
Litman explained that "little by little" Judge Chutkan will remove pieces of Trump's advantage, such as the trial delays, she could fine him, and ultimately she may have no other choice but to revoke his conditions of release.
"Either enormous and multiplying fines or if that doesn't do the trick, time in jail," he said. "It is the same kind of dynamic. It can't be and yet the statements he made just this morning that you played, Fredricka, are exactly the kinds of things that the DOJ was pointing toward in asking for this gag order."
Litman's reference was to a recent unredacted filing from special counsel Jack Smith saying that Trump's continued attacks on those involved in the case violate the terms of his release. As such, he's requesting that the judge take a look at possible sanctions.
"It is poisoning the jury pool potentially, making them think that the justice system is rigged," Litman argued. "That is the sort of thing that he's not permitted to do under his conditions of release. And she may take a giant step, it won't be for a few weeks, there is a briefing, to say you have to cut this out or else, or else we'll still mean — she'll want to make it — to really have her hand forced, but he's just the kind of guy to force her hand, right? That is what we've learned about Trump over the last many years."
He said that it could be a few weeks simply because there are briefings on both sides that will go back and forth.
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner argued a month ago that Trump had already violated the conditions of his release by committing another crime.
"I think we're at a point now where this is sort of integrity of the criminal justice system 101, where at some point I do think the system of justice has to assert itself, as difficult as it might be, as unprecedented as it might be to sort of protect, preserve and promote the integrity of the system," explained Kirschner.
See the full discussion in the video below or at the link here.
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