Donald Trump could be put in pretrial detention if he goes over the top with his attacks on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, former prosecutor Glenn Kirschner told MSNBC Monday.
According to the Guardian, Trump has bowed to escalate his belligerent attacks against Bragg over the grand jury indictment because he sees it as a winning issue with his supporters.
“The latest charged language reflects Trump’s determination to double down on those attacks as he returns to his time-tested playbook of brawling with prosecutors, especially when faced with legal trouble that he knows he cannot avoid,” The Guardian noted citing people close to the former president.
However, as Kirschner explained, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan – who will oversee the case – will have the former president on a short leash and may call him back from Florida if things get out of hand.
“What are the repercussions if he decides not to follow that judge’s [gag] orders?” host José Díaz-Balart asked Kirschner, according to Raw Story.
“You know, a judge could place greater restrictions,” the former prosecutor explained. “For example, a judge can say, ‘listen, you obviously can’t be trusted to abide by the conditions set for you by the court, so now I’m going to prohibit you from making any public comments about your case at all or posting anything on the internet about your case at all.'”
‘”Now, where is the final stop on ratcheting up conditions for a defendant who steadfastly refuses to abide by the conditions set for him by the judge? It is pretrial detention,” Kirschner elaborated. “Now, I don’t know that anybody expects we’ll ever get there but the other thing that’s in play, Jose, if Donald Trump repeatedly violates conditions set by the judge, it would be contempt of court.”
Watch the video below from MSNBC.