New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) stated on Tuesday that Rikers Island jail will be prepared for former President Trump if he is directed to jail for breaking a gag order in his hush money trial.
Adams mentioned that the Department of Corrections in the city is ready for any situation on Rikers Island, and he made an analogy to dealing with important individuals such as Trump, drawing from experience with Harvey Weinstein.
“We have to adapt, especially in law enforcement, to whatever comes our way, ” he said at a press conference on Tuesday. “But we don’t want to deal with a hypothetical. They’re professionals, they’ll be ready.” Trump has been found in violation of a gag order on his speech 10 times over two hearings in the ongoing trial, with Judge Juan Merchan threatening Trump with jail time if he continues to discuss details or make disparaging remarks about witnesses and other court figures in public comments.
The former president has already been fined $10,000 for the violations in the case, where he stands accused of falsifying business documents to cover up an alleged affair from a decade prior in the weeks before the 2016 election. Judge Merchan has criticized Trump's continued violations as a direct attack on the rule of law, stating that the last thing he wants to do is put Trump in jail, but he has a job to fulfill. Prosecutors have stated that they do not intend to imprison Trump for the violations. Trump has strongly criticized Merchan’s gag order and others he’s received from judges in his other cases, arguing that they infringe on his First Amendment rights to respond to political attacks as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee becomes the first former U.S. president to face a criminal trial. in the ongoing trial, with Judge Juan Merchan threatening Trump with jail time if he continues to discuss details or make disparaging remarks about witnesses and other court figures in public comments.
The former president has already been fined $10,000 for the violations in the case, where he stands accused of falsifying business documents to cover up an alleged affair from a decade prior in the weeks before the 2016 election.
The judge told Trump on Monday that “last thing I want to do is put you in jail” but “at the end of the day, I have a job to do.”
“Your continued violations constitute a direct attack on the rule of law,” Merchan said.
Prosecutors said they do not seek to put Trump behind bars for the violations.
Trump has harshly criticized Merchan’s gag order and ones he’s received from the judges in his other cases, asserting they violate his First Amendment rights to respond to political attacks, as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee becomes the first former U.S. president to face criminal trial.
