Judge Juan Merchan gives Trump a final warning: prison is next

Donald Trump has booked a one-way ticket to prison, and the judge overseeing his ongoing criminal trial in New York on Monday said he is ready to send him there at any time.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan kicked off the fourth week of Trump’s trial with a speech more than a year in the making, explaining why he hasn’t yet thrown the politician into hot water — which he mentioned his last warning to the first. president.

“I’ll find you in criminal contempt for the tenth time,” Merchan said grimly. “It appears the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Therefore, this court will have to consider a prison sentence in the future. Mr. Trump, it is important to understand that the last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next one.”

Trump continues to ignore the judge’s order banning him from speaking publicly about witnesses and jurors in a threatening manner, something the former president continues to do on social media anyway. Merchan fined Trump $9,000 last week for nine separate violations of an earlier silence order — a step he took only after repeated warnings.

Trump pays $9,000 fine for intimidating jurors and witnesses

But the American public continues to wonder where this judge will draw the line. During Trump’s bank fraud trial last year, a civil judge, whose courtroom is just a block away, similarly punished the politician several times for ignoring a gag order and continuing to make threats against that judge’s law clerk. But in that separate case, Judge Arthur F. Engoron continued to threaten to temporarily send Trump to prison but never did so.

The stakes in Merchan’s courtroom, however, are much higher. The former president faces 34 felonies and a prison sentence of up to four years. Allowing him – or any defendant – to threaten witnesses, jurors, court staff and prosecutors sets a shocking precedent for the country’s justice system.

And that’s precisely why Merchan laid out his reasoning Monday morning during a speech to the court, explaining the monumental considerations involved in deciding whether he will be the first judge ever to send a former U.S. president to prison without even waiting for a guilty verdict from a jury.

“Taking that step would disrupt these proceedings… I am also concerned about the people who would have to carry out that sanction: the court officials… the details of the Secret Service and others. I’m concerned about them… I’m also aware of concerns about the wider implications of that prison sentence. The magnitude of that decision is not lost on me. But at the end of the day, I have a job, and that job is to protect the dignity of the justice system,” Merchan said.

Trump’s incessant outbursts and violent rhetoric outside the courtroom, Merchan emphasized, “constitute a direct attack on the rule of law. I can’t allow this to continue. So as much as I don’t want to impose that prison sentence… I want you to understand that I will do so when it is necessary and appropriate.”

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