Dem
51
GOP
49
Donald Trump's lawyers are asking Judge Juan Merchan to lift the gag order on Trump before the June 27 debate with Joe Biden so he can discuss the case then. In reality, he is free to discuss the case even with the gag order. What he is not free to do is threaten people who work in the judicial system. Was Trump planning to tell his supporters on national television to go attack the judge's assistant or even the judge's daughter? The judge himself and Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg are not covered by the order. The lawyers said that Trump is entitled to "unrestrained campaign advocacy" since the trial is over now.
In reality, Trump knows that if he violates the gag order, all that will happen is that the judge will fine him $1,000 again and won't do anything if he refuses to pay. He is counting on the fact that the judge won't find him in contempt of court and give him an all-expenses-paid vacation on lovely Rikers Island, with its view of the magnificent new LaGuardia terminal. In reality, any other defendant who violated court orders 10 times would have been in jail long ago. Trump is being handled with kid gloves, despite his endless bellyaching about his treatment. So far, the judge hasn't made a decision on the gag order. (V)