All posts tagged "Contempt"

On Thursday, former President Donald Trump approached a gaggle of reporters with a wad of news clippings and proceeded to thumb through them to suggest they prove he's being persecuted (not prosecuted) in his historic criminal hush money trial.

A body language and emotional intelligence expert noted the unspoken things Trump is expressing while going on a rambling speech about his purported unfair treatment.

"These are all stories from legal experts saying how this is not a case," Trump said, after shuffling out of the Manhattan criminal courtroom that he noted was "freezing" cold. "The case is ridiculous."
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Did Donald Trump violate his gag order while he was seated in court while the trial was underway?

Former federal prosecutor Ryan Goodman raised the specter of former President Donald Trump not only testing the limits of a gag order imposed on him by New York Judge Juan Merchan in his criminal falsifying business records trial — but going about it during the actual trial.

"To make these statements or have these statements made from within the courthouse would be to amplify the 'contempt' of and for the court," Goodman, who is also co-Editor-in-Chief of Just Security, wrote in a Twitter post. ...

Donald Trump may soon face additional criminal contempt sanctions, if prosecutors in his hush money case have their way on it.

MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin appeared on MSNBC on Friday to discuss recent filings by prosecutors in Trump's criminal case involving payments to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. While D.A. Alvin Bragg's team argued that the former president may have already implicitly violated the spirit of the gag order, Trump's lawyers argued against an "expansion" of the order as written.

But after the live on-air appearance, Rubin realized that she had missed something....

Former Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge has been held in civil contempt of court for refusing to divulge a source at the heart of a story that triggered a defamation suit.

Herridge will be fined $800 dollars for every day that she does not comply with the court's order to disclose the source.

"The Court does not reach this result lightly," said the ruling from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper. "It recognizes the paramount importance of a free press in our society and the critical role that confidential sources play in the work of investigative journalists like Herridge. Yet the Court also has its own role to play in upholding the law and safeguarding judicial authority. Applying binding precedent in this Circuit, the Court resolved that Chen’s need for the requested information to vindicate her rights under the Privacy Act overcame Herridge’s qualified First Amendment reporter’s privilege in this case."...

Trump trying to hold special counsel Jack Smith and fellow prosecutors in contempt is "unbefitting" and "frivolous," according to former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner.

Appearing on "The Legal Breakdown" with Bryan Tyler Cohen, Kirschner roasted the 45th president's legal team for their attempt to get U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., to hold Smith and two of his prosecutors in contempt for turning over thousands of pages in discovery and providing an exhibit list — while the case is paused.

They wrote that such work "teems with partisan rhetoric" and "false claims."...

Special Counsel Jack Smith said Friday that he will continue to make filings in his case in D.C. alleging election subversion efforts by Donald Trump, firing back at a bid by the ex-president to hold him in contempt.

In a 15-page filing, Trump's attorneys accused Smith and two other federal prosecutors of defying a court's order pausing Trump's federal election subversion trial. Some said, however, that the former president "overplayed his hand" with that motion.

Now, Smith has filed an official response, according to Politico's senior legal affairs reporter, Kyle Cheney....