The Trump Trials: Hot bench and cold turkey – The Washington Post
Welcome back to The Trump Trials, our weekly effort to keep readers up to date on the many criminal and civil cases the 45th president is fighting in federal and state courts.
Have questions on the upcoming trials? Email us at devlin.barrett@washpost.com and perry.stein@washpost.com and check for answers in future newsletters.
Okay, let’s get started.
An appeals court in Washington could decide at any time whether to reimpose a limited gag order on Donald Trump in his federal election-obstruction case in D.C. The three-judge panel questioned prosecutors and defense lawyers last week about the issue, and the argument spilled over into Thanksgiving (more on this topic below).
Now, a recap of last week’s action.
The details: Four counts related to conspiring to obstruct the 2020 election results.
Planned trial date: March 4
What happened: An appeals court chewed up a Trump lawyer and prosecutors as the panel weighed the wisdom of a limited gag order on the former president. Trump’s lawyer argued his client did nothing to deserve the gag imposed last month by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan. Prosecutors countered that the former president, who is again running for the White House, richly deserves a gag for public statements that could intimidate witnesses, prosecutors and the integrity of the justice system itself.
The bickering continued into the holiday, when prosecutors filed a letter to the court pointing to the reasons for a different gag order issued against Trump in a New York civil trial.
At last week’s appeal hearing, the judges peppered both sides with questions. Which leads us to our …
Hot bench: This is the term lawyers use for an appeals court that asks a lot of questions of lawyers, sometimes interrupting them before they can fully answer the last one. The bench that heard the gag order issue last week was hotter than Thanksgiving dinner, and lasted about as long. At times, one of the judges raised her voice at Trump’s lawyer and seemed annoyed with his answers. The same judge, however, also expressed deep skepticism about the prosecutors’ rationale for the scope of the gag order.
The details: Trump faces 13 state charges for allegedly trying to undo the election results in that state. Eighteen people were charged alongside Trump; four have pleaded guilty.
Planned trial date: None yet
What happened last week: State Judge Scott McAfee rejected a bid by prosecutors to send one of Trump’s co-defendants to jail over social media posts that authorities said violated the terms of his release. Instead, the judge ordered lawyers to craft more specific conditions of bond for the defendant, Harrison Floyd.
McAfee agreed with District Attorney Fani T. Willis that some of Floyd’s social media posts had violated the terms of his bond, but said the violations were not so severe as to merit sending him to jail. It’s another example of how courts are wrestling to police the pretrial public comments of the former president and his allies.
The details: Trump faces 40 federal charges over accusations that he kept top-secret government documents at Mar-a-Lago — his home and private club — and thwarted government demands to return them.
Planned trial date: May 20
What happened: This case was fairly quiet over the holiday-shortened week, for the first time in a long time. We know, we know, we probably jinxed it.
The details: 34 charges connected to a 2016 hush money payment.
Planned trial date: March 25
Last week: This case was again quiet last week.
A block away at the civil courthouse, however, the Trump Organization’s former controller gave tearful testimony about how he quit that job earlier this year, fed up with the accusations of dishonest accounting that are the subject of the trial.
“I gave up,” Jeffrey McConney said, throwing up his hands as he testified.
Q: Can Trump — a former president with a lifetime Secret Service detail — even be sent to prison?
A: We’ve received many variations of this question since launching the newsletter earlier this fall. We’ll take a stab at it, but fair warning — there’s no concrete or necessarily satisfying answer, because the things that will decide the matter haven’t happened yet.
Keep in mind: We’re still a long way from knowing if Trump will be convicted, let alone sentenced to prison. While the 91 charges he faces carry years of potential prison time, judges could, in theory, decide to sentence him to house arrest or some other punishment.
As a former president, Trump is afforded Secret Service protection for life, and he does not necessarily lose that right if he is behind bars. The scenario at the heart of the question is unprecedented.
Our colleague Spencer S. Hsu has posed this question to legal experts and they said that while he could theoretically go to prison, it would be expensive and could be a logistical mess. The Secret Service has said that there is not currently a policy dictating whether a former president who has not waived his Secret Service protection can be incarcerated.
Many former Trump aides say he shouldn’t be president again. Does it matter?
Appeals court suggests it may pare back Trump’s gag order