CNN host Kaitlan Collins discussed Trump being careful not to violate the gag order in his New York business records trial.
She noted that the judge informed Trump directly that jail would be a last resort but possible if he disrupts the proceedings.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper said, “I just want to read what the judge actually said to Trump today. He said, ‘Mr. Trump, it’s important to understand that the last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president United States and possibly the next president, as well. There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for me. To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings, which I imagine you want to end as quickly as possible.’ Just politically, Kaitlan, what would what would this mean?”
While Trump may argue this is political persecution, Collins said anyone who knows Trump knows he wouldn’t actually want to go to jail, as he doesn’t even like staying in hotels.
Collins noted that while Trump’s allies may think jail time could work politically for him, Trump himself heeding a judge’s words is unusual, and that even if he lies about the gag order’s parameters, he is being careful not to cross the line the judge has set.
Collins said, “I mean, the argument is that Trump would relish it in the sense that he would be able to argue what he’s been arguing everyday tie that courtroom that he is being politically persecuted here, that he can’t use his first amendment rights.”
She added, “The idea that Donald Trump would actually want to go to jail is ridiculous. Anyone who knows him knows that he doesn’t even like to stay in a hotel when he goes on foreign trips, when he wouldn’t as president. It was a whole thing to actually get him to stay overnight in places.”
Collins added, “So this idea that he actually does want to do this for the optics perspective, I mean, when you speak to his closest advisers and allies, they’ll say that’s completely far-fetched. Do they think it would work to their advantage? Maybe politically, but I do think Donald Trump heeding this is something that you never see Donald Trump do, which is actually which is actually words. And he keeps acknowledging that every time he goes into that courtroom, even if he is lying about what the gag order actually says, he can and cannot do, he is being careful.”
