If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that Donald Trump will always be Donald Trump. He’ll never change. I know this because he gets away with everything. He violates gag orders, gets away with a slap on the wrist. Except of course for the E. Jean Carroll case where he found out that further defaming her, which he did on Truth Social, turned out to be rather costly.

But that’s the only time. Sure, he is facing a contempt order after writing a series of posts on Truth Social roughly an hour after the trial concluded, to complain, of course, about the trial, especially his required attendance, according to The Guardian. This has, of course, prompted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to file a motion in papers that were made public on Tuesday to hold the former president in contempt of court for violating a partial gag order that had been handed down.

As reported by The Washington Post earlier this month, Trump has violated gag orders on “at least two and arguably three previous occasions,” and this shows he’s been given way too much leeway over this, in my opinion.

Now he’s testing his limits again, according to Mediaite. Trump was allegedly observed muttering audibly and gesturing as a potential juror was being questioned and that led Judge Juan Merchan to warn at least one of his attorneys, Todd Blanche, that his client “cannot do that, cannot disrupt this proceeding.”

All of this stems from Trump’s infamous hush-money trial in a Manhattan courtroom. He faces 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records regarding the alleged hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election. This is a historic first because Trump is the first former president to face a criminal trial. And the fun part here is that the ex-president has earned the nickname “Don Snorleone” after spending years referring to President Biden as “Sleepy Joe.

And don’t think the Biden-Harris HQ team failed to notice this.

And when he’s not nodding off, Trump has been kvetching that he’s not receiving a fair trial. It’s all just another wash, rinse repeat, from him. That’s all this is.

Tuesday afternoon was really off to a fun start when one of the potential jurors was questioned about a Facebook post from 2020 that was a video of an event in New York City in 2020. CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates reported that the juror was questioned about the post, especially whether it was biased against Trump. According to CNN correspondent Kara Scannell, the questions surrounded whether this was “a New York moment that she caught on camera” or a “celebration” of President Joe Biden’s victory. This last part shouldn’t be surprising — Scannell also noted that Trump’s attorneys argued that she “went to an anti-Trump rally” and should be struck for bias. The juror, however, said she was merely capturing the moment.

Scannell then added that Judge Merchan remarked that this juror “looked me in the eye and said that she could be impartial, so we refuse to excuse her for cause.” This is legalese that means Trump’s lawyers can still use one of their strikes, though they have yet to do so.

This is when Trump turned all snorty and farty and Scannell said “As the juror was leaving, he could be heard audibly saying something and gesturing in the direction of the juror leaving the room.” That, she added, “prompted the judge to raise his voice.”

Scannell noted Merchan is “a soft-spoken judge, but firm,” adding that he “raised his voice” and told Trump’s lawyer, Blanche that he could hear Trump muttering and warned him that Trump will not be allowed to disrupt proceedings.

Merchan followed that up by warning the attorney that “he won’t have any jurors intimidated,” Coates said.

This was a significant moment and it was not lost on Coates.

“it’s a really important moment here,” coates said, “really extraordinary moment” to have a former president surrounded by secret service uttering something while a lone juror is being questioned, and “some sort of reprimand” being issued. “it seemed as though his patience for being able to be quiet in that courtroom in waning thin.”

Politico’s legal reporter Erica Orden repeated an exact quote of Merchan’s comments in a post.

“your client was audibly uttering something,” she wrote he said. “i won’t tolerate that. i will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. i want to make that crystal clear.”

It’s good that Judge Merchan put Trump and his lawyers on notice, but I definitely think his patience is going to be tried for the duration of this trial. I hope he’s laid in a good supply of antacids because I bet he’s going to need them.

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2 COMMENTS

    • I think Sleepy Don has already showed us that some talk isn’t very cheap at all. E. Jean Carroll would agree that the wrong sort of talk can get VERY expensive.

      3

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