A former California judge is suggesting that the consequences need to be harsher for former President Donald Trump should he break a gag order he has been placed under, recommending he be put in jail.
Former California Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell said, “There has to be an immediate consequence when he defies a court order,” such as the gag order he was placed under by Judge Juan Merchan in the New York hush-money criminal case. However, Cordell acknowledged to CNN that it does not appear Trump has violated the gag order just yet.
“When he steps across that gag order line, and I do hope it will be expanded, there should be only one response: bring your toothbrush, Donald Trump, because you’re going to sit in a jail cell for a while,” Cordell said. “That is a normal response. You cannot have a court system that is subjected to these kinds of threats and intimidation.”
“Nowhere else has this ever happened and gone without any consequences. And that has to change, and it has to change now.”
After Trump was given the gag order in the New York criminal case, he targeted the judge’s daughter, who is president of a marketing firm that serves Democratic politicians, including by calling her a “Rabid Trump Hater.” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office and Trump’s defense team filed warring pre-motions regarding the scope of the order.
The March 26 gag order limits Trump from making statements about potential witnesses, attorneys, court staff, or other family members of prosecutors or lawyers but leaves open the ability for Trump to speak about Bragg. It’s unclear when Merchan will respond.
Trump has been given gag orders in the federal election interference case in Washington, D.C., and the New York civil fraud case overseen by Judge Arthur Engoron, in which Trump was ordered to pay $355 million, plus interest. Cordell believes the judges have done things “appropriately” with warnings and fines and then the gag orders.
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“In this instance, the gag order, if it’s expanded … so far, he has not violated that gag order, although he’s tip-toeing very close to the line,” the former California judge said, noting that she can understand people who believe a “double standard” has been applied to Trump.
“But I think now it’s starting to sink in to these judges that their lives, their family members, are all at stake here in terms of the threats of violence and intimidation. So there’s nothing left for them to do other than to go the next step,” she added. “And I don’t know what the mystique or magic is about not putting Donald Trump in a jail cell so that he understands there are immediate consequences for not behaving as a normal adult in the courtroom.”
