When a Former Prosecutor Thought Donald Trump Is ‘Deliberately’ Violating Judge’s Gag Orders

A former prosecutor thinks Donald Trump is intentional about violating the gag orders issued to him. On October 25, former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann analyzed Donald Trump's reasons for disobeying gag orders. Earlier in the day, the judge in his civil fraud trial had fined the former president $10,000 for violating a gag order for the third time, HuffPost reported.

Speaking with Nicolle Wallace of MSNBC, Weissmann stated that Trump could have rightfully doubted the honesty of Michael Cohen, his former fixer and attorney after he acknowledged lying to Congress and the court while under oath. Rather than following the court's direction to refrain from disparaging the judge's staff, Trump criticized Judge Arthur Engoron's clerk in remarks to reporters. Weissmann contended that Trump is employing “a very deliberate strategy.”

Explaining that it's all part of his larger strategy for the presidential elections of 2024, Weismann said, “This is, I think, a very deliberate strategy…where Trump is deliberately playing to his base and goading the judicial system as part of a strategy in terms of his base in terms of his political campaign in playing the victim.” He added, “It’s quite intentional on his part because it would have been so easy to go with the facts today.” 

Many legal experts, like Weissmann, believe that former President Donald Trump should be treated more harshly since he is showing signs of trying to outwit the judges overseeing his criminal and civil prosecutions, in which gag orders have been placed and twice already broken.

Shan Wu, a former prosecutor, said that the punitive measures implemented thus far, despite their amount, are insufficient and should be far harsher, Raw Story reported. Wu claims in the Daily Beast that Trump's trial judges "need to send a message to him and his supporters" that they "actually have teeth" and that they will stop defendant Trump from "spewing dangerous invective" regarding the gag orders that are intended to apply equally to everyone.

After releasing a photo of the court clerk from his website DonaldJTrump.com and referring to her as Sen. Chuck Schumer's "girlfriend," Trump found himself in serious trouble. Trump's attorneys contended that it was a mere "oversight" on his part. "Make no mistake, Judge Engoron was pissed off at Trump for again trying to attack Engoron’s law clerk," Wu wrote in his column.

Then, Trump and Engoron got into a heated argument with reporters, as he raved about the biased judge in his case and how "a person who's very partisan sitting alongside him" was. "Perhaps even more biased than he is."

Wu's main worry is that his supporters might easily gather the money to compensate Trump for his ignorance of the gag order with a few quick clicks, which would not be enough to persuade him to stop. "With all due respect to Judge Engoron, I can’t help but wonder how much worse for the next offense—maybe $20,000," Wu asks." At that rate, the amount of money Trump is likely fundraising off of Engoron’s sanctions will end up dwarfing the sanctions themselves."

Editor's note: This article was originally published on October 27, 2023. It has since been updated.