Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, April 17, 2024
Team Biden's lawfare strategy against Donald Trump and key attorneys who have supported him has reached the stage where the tactic is to keep the former president tied up in court and unable to campaign so Democrats can carry the 81-year-old Joe Biden over the finish line Weekend at Bernie's-style.
The strategy is not just to keep Trump occupied in the courtroom and away from the campaign trail, but to prevent him from speaking about what he terms the unprecedented political prosecution outside of the courtroom.
Thus, the Biden team is hoping enough of the American public will learn about what is happening in the courtroom from legacy media outlets that are openly hostile to Trump and supportive of Biden.
The Information War. Who will win?
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office on Tuesday filed a formal request to hold Trump in contempt over three social media posts.
Prosecutors said during Monday’s hearing that three of Trump’s social media posts from this month "plainly violate" Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order, claiming they target witnesses who will be testifying at the trial.
The prosecutors wrote in the filing: "And defendant's violations were knowing and willful -- indeed, they are the latest in what this Court has already recognized as a deliberate strategy to impede this criminal trial. To be sure, defendant has loudly and repeatedly complained that the order is unlawful, in both court filings and other public statements. But no court has agreed with his objections, and a defendant's mere disagreement with a court's order is no defense to criminal contempt."
Trump said in one post to Truth Social: "This conflicted, Trump Hating Judge won’t let me respond to people that are on TV lying and spewing hate all day long. He is running rough shod over my lawyers and legal team. The New York System of 'Justice' is being decimated by critics from all over the World. I want to speak, or at least be able to respond. Election Interference! RIGGED, UNCONSTITUTIONAL TRIAL! Take off the Gag Order!!!"
A hearing on the matter has been scheduled for next Tuesday.
According to Fox News, Trump could be fined $1,000 for each violation of the gag order.
The first post Bragg’s team said was a violation of Merchan's gag order came on April 10 about Michael Avenatti. Trump re-posted a statement from Avenatti that said, "We can’t be hypocrites when it comes to the 1st Amendment. It is outrageous that Cohen and Daniels can do countless TV interviews, post on social, & make $$ on bogus documentaries—all by talking sh*t about Trump—but he’s gagged and threatened with jail if he responds."
Trump wrote in response to the post: "Thank you to Michael Avenatti --for revealing the truth about two sleeze bags who have, with their lies and misrepresentations, cost our Country dearly!!"
In another post Bragg's team said was a violation of the gag order, also on April 10, Trump shared a photo of a document titled "Official Statement of Stormy Daniels," dated January 30, 2018. "Over the past few weeks I have been asked countless times to comment on reports of an alleged sexual relationship I had with Donald Trump many, many, many years ago," the statement from Daniels says. "I am not denying this affair because I was paid 'hush money' as has been reported in overseas owned tabloids. I am denying this affair because it never happened."
Trump posted, "LOOK WHAT WAS JUST FOUND! WILL THE FAKE NEWS REPORT IT."
A third statement noted by Bragg’s team had Trump criticizing former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz.
"Has Mark POMERANTZ been prosecuted for his terrible acts in and out of the D.A.’s Office," Trump posted on April 13. "Has disgraced attorney and felon Michael Cohen been prosecuted for LYING? Only TRUMP people get prosecuted by this Judge and these thugs! A dark day for our Country. MAGA2024!!!"
Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk noted: "The Left believes that by putting Trump on trial in New York and convicting him, they will finally disqualify and discredit Trump from the presidency. They're wrong. This trial doesn't discredit Trump. Instead, it discredits one of the only effective institutions America has left, the criminal justice system.
"Americans think their Congress is corrupt, their military is a joke, their business elites will sell them out, their schools are insane, and their media is dishonest and morally bankrupt. But largely they have continued to trust our police and our court system, with its jury trials. But now, Alvin Bragg is putting a president on trial for completely novel charges: Trump is accused, in state court, of covering up a federal crime that he has never even been charged with."
As the trial in New York opened on Monday, Judge Merchan told Trump that he must be in the courtroom for the entirety of the proceedings.
Trump said in a Truth Social post: "I have just learned that the highly biased Judge in the Soros 'appointed' D.A. Alvin Bragg’s Witch Hunt Case, will not allow me to attend the historic PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY argument in front of The United States Supreme Court, on Thursday, April 25th (next week!). This shows such great disdain and disrespect for our Nation’s Highest Court, especially for a topic so important as Presidential Immunity, without which our Country would never be the same!"
