The king of that court is the judge 'and one way or the other Trump will learn that': legal expert
Legal experts gathered with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell Monday evening to comment on the judge's recent rulings for the arrangement of former President Donald Trump, who was indicted on 34 felony counts.
The lawyers were speculating on a possible gag order for Trump, given his attacks on the judge, the D.A. and his family. There's also the potential for inappropriate behavior from Trump, like attacking others in court, even the jurors.
Dan Horwitz, former assistant Manhattan District Attorney, explained that even if there was a gag order, it wouldn't slow things down or make things more difficult for keeping the trial moving forward.
O'Donnell asked about Trump's attacks on the D.A. and his family and if he could mandate that Trump never do that again and if Trump could abide by that one piece of a gag order.
"Yeah, I mean it would be well within his rights, I think, as a judge to preserve to the court to say something like that," said former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal. "Trump may try to challenge it, but there are no so-called interlocutory appeals. He could not delay the trial because of it."
O'Donnell continued to be aghast that Trump would do something like attacking the family of a prosecutor. He noted that he was shocked some well-known and prestigious lawyers were willing to take on the case after seeing that happen.
"That is an excellent point, Lawrence, but I also want to pick up on what Andrew and Neal were saying," Horwitz began. "You have got two consummate professionals who specialize in representing the type-A executives who are in the same kind of trouble that Donal Trump is in. These are both lawyers who are not afraid to speak their minds bluntly with their clients. And they will tell their clients you cannot do this if you want to succeed in the courtroom because as Andrew or Neal said or I have said on one of these programs, the king in the courtroom is Judge Juan Merchan. And one way or another defendant Donald Trump is going to learn that. And his lawyers understand that and they are the kinds of people who are going to set lines for the guy, and say you cannot do this."
Former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann also made the point that there will be a long delay between the Tuesday arrangement and the actual trial. In the judicial system, defendants are given ample opportunity to formulate their cases.
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