Donald Trump on Thursday during his Jan. 6 election conspiracy case arraignment was admonished by a magistrate judge not to commit any crimes while he awaits trial.
Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya specifically told Trump that it is a crime to "influence a juror or try to threaten or bribe a witness or retaliate against anyone" connected to the case, which Trump told the judge he understood.
Several legal and political experts believe he may have already crossed that line and are calling for the former president’s pretrial detention.
Trump posted on Friday that “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner wrote on his social media account that “In case you wonder why I’ve been saying that there’s clear and convincing evidence that Trump belongs in pretrial detention . . . here is yet additional proof.”
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann didn’t mention pretrial detention but said in a post that “This is the kind of thing that DOJ alerts the court to with respect to any defendant out on bail (in this case, in 3 criminal cases, and also is a threat in civil cases like E Jean Carroll). Not addressing this will only cause it to metastasize with undue deadly risks.”
Former Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.) on his social media account suggested that Trump’s pretrial detention is likely.
“If as the judge has admonished, a president is not a king, the odds are pretty significant of Trump facing a pretrial detention moment based on his inevitable violation of the conditions of his current freedom,” Jolly wrote.
Conservative activist George Conway posted on his social media account that “It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that this guy talks or posts himself into some form of pretrial detention.”
Wrote veteran journalist Andrew Feinberg: “This certainly sounds like a threat against prosecutors and/or witnesses.”
