Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb said that some time in jail for former President Donald Trump might be the only way to get him to follow a judge’s gag order that was reinstated Sunday.
The order, which was originally imposed on the former president by District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan earlier this month, was temporarily lifted on Oct. 20 so Mr. Trump and his lawyers could appeal the ruling.
It was reinstated on Sunday and it stops Mr. Trump from publicly speaking about certain witnesses and prosecutors involved in the 2020 election subversion case out of Washington that was brought against him by federal government special counsel Jack Smith.
“The First Amendment rights of participants in criminal proceedings must yield, when necessary, to the orderly administration of justice,” Judge Chutkan wrote.
Mr. Trump also has a gag order against him by the judge overseeing his civil fraud case in New York. He was fined $10,000 last week over a comment he made in a courthouse hallway apparently about the judge and a clerk. Just days before he was fined $5,000 for having a social media post that violated the gag order still up on his campaign website.
“Well, the New York judge fined him $10,000,” Mr. Cobb, who worked on Mr. Trump’s legal team during his presidency, said in a CNN interview Monday. “That’s a civil case. That’s not as consequential as Judge Chutkan’s case.”
“I think she’ll come in with a much heavier penalty, and ultimately, I think he’ll spend a night or a weekend in jail,” he said. “I think it’ll take that to stop him.”
Mr. Trump says he will appeal the ’”unthinkable” gag order, arguing that it takes away his First Amendment rights.
“It illegally and unconstitutionally takes away my First Amendment right of speech, in the middle of my campaign for president…,” he wrote on his site Truth Social. “Few can believe this is happening, but I will appeal.”
In his post, Mr. Trump called U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, a “very biased, Trump hating judge.” He said the order will put him at a “disadvantage against my prosecutorial and political opponents.” adding, “It will not stand!”
Mr. Trump is known to take to social media to attack people or things he does not like, and he frequently makes comments about his several legal cases and the people involved.
The former president’s Washington trial is set for March 4.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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