Here’s what can happen if Trump and his allies keep posting about violence: former Manhattan DA lawyer
April 04, 2023
On Monday, an ally of Donald Trump compared the former president to rappers like Tupac or The Notorious B.I.G. Given Ari Melber's expertise in hip-hop, it was something that he refuted.
A Biggie song, for example, has a character crafted for the purpose of the song in which the character appears before a judge to plead not guilty. The character tells the judge he's kidnapped his daughter, and then enters his plea.
"At my arraignment, note for the plaintiff // "Your daughter's tied up in a Brooklyn basement" // Face it, not guilty, that's how I stay filthy (Not Guilty)," the lyric goes.
Donald Trump Jr., the former president's eldest son, promoted photos of the judge's daughter on social media sites, highlighting her identity to angry Trump followers. She has nothing to do with her father's job.
The MSNBC host said that among the things included in the court transcripts are the comments from the D.A.'s office about the threats posted online.
"It's critical they raised it, and I think the judge was waiting for it," former assistant Manhattan D.A. Dan Horowitz. "You have the transcript here, you alluded to it, I've read it. There's no question that the judge was waiting for the prosecutors to bring up the defendant's thuggish behavior, and I use the word defendant because he is a defendant now."
He went on to say that it is exceptionally rare for defendants to attack the court or the prosecutors the way Trump and his allies have. He said there were defendants at Rikers Island Prison that have been more respectful to the court than Trump.
Outside of the courthouse, Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina claimed that Trump never posted the photo of him swinging a baseball bat next to D.A. Alvin Bragg. Tacopina then changed what he said, saying that Trump was promoting an American-made bat. Then it evolved into him saying that someone else made that image, not Trump. He never acknowledged that Trump posted below.
"Let me tell you, Ari, there are judges, including Judge Juan Marchand, who's, by the way, has been a judge for a very long time. And we're talking Manhattan here, right?" said Horowitz. "They've seen it all. It's criminal court, just like the television program crazy stuff happens in Manhattan. So they have seen when the occasional defendant acts out. Those defendants learn what will happen. There could be gag orders. There could be — I'm not saying this is going to happen here, but defendants who act out physically, they can be restrained physically. And ultimately, they can be barred from the courtroom that's extraordinary, but they can be barred from participating in their trial."
See the explainer below or at the link here.
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