Congratulations. Thank you. And thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. Really happy to have you here. Ready . The clerk. This is the people of the state of new york against donald j. Trump, smz71911 24. Appearancing starting with people. Prosecutor joshua steinglass, for the people, assistant District Attorneys joshua stein glass, michael colangelo, becky mangold, christopher conroy, and catherine ellis. Good morning, emil bove, joined by donald trump and todd blanche, susan necheles. The judge, good morning. Good morning, mr. Trump. So the matter called into the record is the peoples motion for contempt, meaning the prosecutions motion for contempt. The judge says, quote, before i hand down my decision, i wanted to address the defense and mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, as you know, the prosecution has filed three separate motions asking this court to find you in contempt. In a moment, im going to hand down my decision on the third motion. Which i in which i find you in Criminal Contempt for the tenth time. Quote, it appears that the 1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a Jail Sanction if recommended. Mr. Trump, it is important to understand that the last thing i want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the 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. I also worry about the people who would have to execute that sanction. The court officers, the correction officers, the secret Service Detail among others. I worry about them. And about what would go into executing such a sanction. Of course, im also aware of the broader implications of such a sanction. The magnitude of such a decision is not onesided. But at the end of the day, i have a job to do, and part of that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system and compel respect. Your continued violations of this courts lawful order threaten to interfere with the administration of justice. Constant attacks which constitute a direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue. So as much as i do not want to impose a Jail Sanction, and i have done everything i can to avoid doing so, i want you to understand that i will if necessary and appropriate. Do the attorneys have any other questions about that . I will now hand down the decision from the court. This is for the defense. This is for the people. Transcript then notes, Whereupon The Sergeant gives copies of the courts decision to the parties. The judge says, quote, you can call the trial. Clerk, this is people of the state of new york against donald j. Trump, indictment 71543 23, case on trial continued. This was the third week of the trial. This was a momentous thing that happened today. This is i mean, we kind of knew it was coming. Now that its happened this is a momentous thing. This is an american Criminal Court. The judge saying you are repeatedly disobeying this lawful order. If lesser sanctions cannot persuade you to stop violating this courts order and apparently they cannot, then you will be jailed. Even yes, as a former president of the United States, you, too, are a citizen and are subject to the law like every citizen is. Were there. We have never been in a place like this before. And thats because really, you know, specific historical circumstances. When Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in disgrace, he was caught using the powers of the presidency to mess with his political opponents. He resigned in disgrace, and his Vice President who then ascended to the presidency, gave nixon a full pardon. Why did he give him a pardon . It says explicitly in the explanation of the pardon, it says that happened so nixon would not face arrest and indictment and trial. He had resigned the presidency at least, right, so the threat he posed to the country was over. And so he was allowed to evade personal punishment. Remember, though, that was less than a year after nixons Vice President also resigned, also as part of effectively a plea deal with the Justice Department to avoid in his case what would have otherwise been his prosecution on 40 felony corruption charges. What happened to spiro agnew was a little bit like what happened to nixon. In his case, there wasnt a pardon but there was a plea deal to avoid prosecution. So the dynamic was the same. Because agnew agreed to leave office, that meant the threat he posed to the country as a deeply corrupt person and high elected office, that threat was over, and because he left office, he was allowed to evade significant personal punishment. And so neither nixon nor agnew went to jail for even a day. Now, though, were learning the consequences of, you know, in our history, letting president s evade personal punishment when they have committed crimes. Because now we have a former president who isnt leaving office like nixon did, like agnew did. Now we have one who isnt eliminating the ongoing danger to the public by getting out of public life. So maybe that could have been what he traded his freedom for. No, for our sins what weve got now is one of these guys who is staying in public life. And therefore, the threat is arrive. Hes threatening to get back into the presidency with four different criminal trials stacked up like taxiing planes on a runway. So no, none of us having any idea what it will mean for us as a country for him to be sent to jail as part of these criminal proceedings is part of what is new for us in this moment. Today, justice juan merchan in new york said jail is what is coming next if trump continues to disobey court orders. And do you think hes going to continue to disobey these court orders . Justice merchan today said, quote, i worry about the people who would have to execute that sanction. The court officers, the correction officers, the secret Service Detail among others. I worry about them, and about what would go into executing such a sanction. Of course, im also aware of the broader implications of such a sanction, but at the end of the day, i have a job to do. Your continued violations of this courts lawful order threaten to interfere with the administration of justice, constant attacks which constitute a direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue. As much as i dont want to impose a Jail Sanction, i want you to understand that i will. I will do it if i have to. Your direct attack on the rule of law cannot be allowed to continue. Just a signal moment in American History today. And its sort of clearer to me on this day at this moment than its ever been in my lifetime. That the rule of law isnt just a bumper sticker. It isnt an abstract thing. It doesnt float in like a miasma and suffuse the atmosphere. The rule of law, specific stuff. And in a day to day way, it means court orders must be obeyed. If you dont obey them, the court will punish you for that. It means for another example, that people who are part of the judicial system, judges, court personnel, juries, witnesses, defense lawyers, prosecutors, it means theyre also able to do their work without being threatened or intimidated or being harassed or fired by people who are associated with the accused. Thats law and order. Thats the rule of law. Thats a nuts and bolts concrete thing. And it is under intense incredible pressure. It is having trouble right now in our country. Because as the judge in trumps first criminal trial is trying to stand up for the rule of law today, as he said in this warning to trump, this Cross The Rubicon Moment in court where he warned trump hes making plans to jail him if he keeps violating the courts order. While that is happening, simultaneously, the Republican Controlled Senate in the State Of Georgia is moving forward on what appears to be their plans to subpoena the prosecutor who is leading the criminal case against trump in the State Of Georgia. District attorney fani willis is leading that proscoug. As soon as she opened that investigation, the Republicanled Legislature in georgia started moving to try to curtail her authority, to give themselves the ability to fire her as a prosecutor. That process has been weaving and wending through legal obstacles for months now. But now, they are planning to haul the prosecutor, to haul fani willis into the state senate and force her to turn over evidence and testify herself under oath while she continues to try to lead that prosecution. Meanwhile, simultaneously, on capitol hill, we have now got the republican chair of the house judiciary committee, jim jordan, launching apparently some kind of new investigation into one of the assistant District Attorneys who was in court today leading the prosecution of trump and his new york case. Meanwhile, simultaneously, this weekend, the former president hosted a high dollar fundraiser at his home in florida. In which he unbidden brought up the federal prosecutor who is overseeing his classified documents Espionage Act prosecution in florida and his overthrow the government case in washington, d. C. According to a recording of those proceedings reviewed by nbc news, trump said at this fundraiser, quote, deranged jack smith, one of the sickest prosecutors in the world, the sick, evil thug, take a look at the deranged. And hes perfect because you look at him, hes not attractive both inside and out. I mean, you couldnt get a better guy if youre trying to make the devil, that deranged. Yes, this is one unattractive dude. Thats why the former president reportedly said fricking expletive. That was saturday afternoon, that was not long after he had posted this in all caps online on his social media company. Quote, Arrest Deranged jack smith. He is a criminal. Again, the rule of law is not an abstract feeling or sense of being. Its not something you just proclaim to be true and then set it and forget it. Terrorizing judges and juries and witnesses and prosecutors is something that breaks the rule of law. If those people are intimidated and harassed and threatened, the rule of law has been broken. This past friday, California Man was criminally charged with making Death Threats against Fulton CountyDistrict Attorney fani willis. A few weeks ago a man in new york was charged with threatening new yorks attorney general, tish james, and judge Arthur Engoron who is overseeing the civil case brought against trumps business by tish james. A woman was sentenced to three years in prison for threatening the judge overseaing trumps Documents Case in florida. A different woman was charged with threatening the judge charged with overseeing the over throw the government case in washington. Not long before that, the fbi fatally shot a man who had threatened to kill the new york District Attorney, alvin bragg, who has brought the case thats currently being argued in Criminal Court in new york. This this stuff has consequences and this stuff is consequences. Were not looking at some vague future threat to the rule of law. What youre seeing here is actively and currently damaging the rule of law right now. Because people are intimidated and terrorized. People who work in the legal system as these alleged crimes are adjudicated there are being harassed, threatened with firing, and intimidated and threatened. And it is happening in all the criminal cases that surround trump. You might remember this lead in a recent Special Report from reuters. Quote, district judge Royce Lambirth has been threatened with angry by angry criminals, drug cartels, even al qaeda. But nothing prepared him for the wave of harassment after he began Hearing Cases against supporters of former President Donald Trump who attacked the u. S. Capitol in a bid to overturn the 2020 election. Lambirth, who was appointed to the bench by Ronald Reagan was pointed by right wing websites as part of a deep state conspiracy to destroy trump and his followers. Quote, traitors get ropes, said one. After he issued a Prison Sentence to one idaho woman who pled guilty to joining the riot, lambirths voice mail filled with Death Threats. One man found lambirths Home Phone Number and called repeatedly with graphic vows to murder him. Lambirth told reuters, quote, i could not believe how many Death Threats i got. This is, again, not some future potential threat to the rule of law. This is damage to the rule of law, and it is here already. When participating in the adjudication of alleged crimes by a political figure and his followers bring you Death Threats, the rule of law has been bent. The rule of law has been broken. Those harms to the rule of law, that damage to the rule of law has been inflicted already. The prospect of jail for the Republican Partys active president ial nominee, that is here already. He got his facetoface warning in court today in new york. One more violation of the courts order banning him from speaking about the jury or witnesses in the case, and he will be put in jail. With secret Service Detail. That time is now here. Which means we are about to find out what its like to be a country that has a president ial candidate and former president in jail because he refuses to follow court orders. Its not a Thought Experiment anymore. Its not the future. It is here. Are we ready . And the rule of law and the democratic system go together. As the rule of law has bent and been broken by trump and his movement, we have also seen the democratic system bend and get broken by trump and his movement. Obviously, we did not have a peaceful transfer of power the last time he competed in and lost an election. There is no commitment at all, no expectation at all by anyone that he and his followers will allow for a peaceful transfer of power this next time. If he loses this next election as well. Hes not even giving lip service to the idea that they will allow for a peaceful transfer of power. He wont even say it and not mean it. And even more importantly than not just coming out of his face, in his Republican Party, accepting that his followers will not abide the results of the next election and neither will the Republican Party in all of its power, in all of its resources, accepting that is now the price of admission to power in that party. In march of this year, the Republican National committee hired two new lawyers to oversee the partys Election Year legal efforts. Now just two months after that, of those two lawyers one has been indicted for helping in the effort to keep him in power illegally after he lost the last election, and the second one of those two lawyers has just been pushed out of his job at the rnc, reportedly because hes not willing to do the same thing. Quote, trump originally approved of the hiring, one source told cnn, but sources said trump was then angered after his allies pointed to clips of the lawyer criticizing the false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. So two lawyers hired by the rnc to oversee legal efforts around the 2024 election, one of them herself now under indictment, the other one reportedly fired for casting doubt that the last election was stolen. For suggesting that the real Election Results were a real thing. Think about that for a second. The chief counsel of the national Republican Party just fired reportedly because he was insufficiently enthusiastic about falsifying Election Results, about working to throw out real Election Results and get trump into power despite them. I know this feels like an incremental update on the days news but just step back from this for a second. If it is now the de facto position of the mainstream Republican Party that were not going to use the real results of elections to decide who is in power, if in order to be in a position of authority in the Republican Party now, you must now pledge to reject Election Results, then tell me how are we going to decide who is in power in this country . Whats the other mechanism were going to use if its not real Election Results . The idea that there is an abstract rule of law or an abstract democracy that exists ambiently in the atmosphere and some day we might lose it, thats not how this goes. The rule of law is mortal. It can be killed. It is wounded when the people involved in the judicial system and the adjudication of alleged crimed are being threatened and harassed and pressured out of their jobs for doing that work. Similarly, democracy is mortal. It can be killed. It doesnt go away by someone one day proclaiming were no longer hereby a democracy. It goes away when t