'Hot seat': Ex-judge says Chutkan might make Trump filter comments through lawyers
Donald Trump might be forced by Judge Tanya Chutkan to run all of his statements through his attorneys prior to making them, according to a former judge now serving as a media analyst.
Carol Lam, a former U.S. attorney who also served as a judge in California, on Saturday appeared on MSNBC's American Voices with Alicia Menendez, where she was asked about what might happen to Trump if the judge overseeing Jack Smith's D.C. elections case decides he has been tampering with witnesses.
Chutkan could decide to impose escalating fines on Trump for his purported misconduct, according to Lam.
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Lam said, when you become a judge, "the first thing they tell you is don't do what you see on TV. Don't bang the gavel and say you're in contempt and I'm throwing you in prison."
"That just doesn't happen. You have due process rights," she noted, saying that the phrase "gag order" often misrepresents the minor request being sought by Smith.
In terms of enforcement of any restrictive order that the judge may impose, Lam said there are "a few things that she could do." If a monetary fine doesn't work, she says, the court might require attorney approval for extra-judicial statements.
"She could go another path. She could say, I'm actually going to require you... before you say anything on social media, you have to run it by your lawyers. And that has actually been upheld, albeit in a civil case, it has been upheld by an appellate court. That's another possibility. That she could put his attorneys on the hot seat as officers of the court."