Joe Scarborough Gets Fired Up Over Trump Violating Gag Order: Anyone Else Would be Thrown ‘In Jail!’

The way Morning Joe sees it? Former President Donald Trump’s nature will inevitably lead him to violate the new gag order imposed upon him. However, Joe Scarborough and Chuck Rosenberg disagreed on what will happen once he does.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan enacted a gag order on Monday, forbidding Trump from “publicly targeting” Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith, Smith’s staff, and “court personnel”. At the same time, Trump awaits trial for his alleged illegal attempt to overturn the 2020 election. On Tuesday’s Morning Joe, Rosenberg was asked what would happen if Trump violated the order, and the former U.S. attorney explained there were “a bunch of options,” but the unique nuances of the case make it difficult to say.

She could reprimand him. She could re-issue the order and remind him of his obligations. That’s the low end of the spectrum. She could fine him. She could even revoke his bond and imprison him, although that would introduce a host of logistical and technical difficulties because he has the Secret Service detail and he’s running for president.

Where on the spectrum she lands, if he violates it, I don’t know. She may not even know. We use the word ‘unique’ a lot, and, frankly, I think it tends to be overused. This is unique.

Scarborough countered by referring to the part of Chutkan’s ruling where she rejected the notion of giving Trump leeway on the gag order just because he’s running for office again.

“So yes, this is unique,” Scarborough said. “What is not unique is the fact is he is a criminal defendant. She’s exactly right… No criminal defendant I’ve ever heard of has been able to attack members of the court, officers of the court, the way Donald Trump is.”

Rosenberg acknowledged Scarborough’s argument but maintained his point that “there aren’t a lot of cases like this” to establish a precedent for what could happen if Trump breaks the order. This prompted Scarborough to counter, “Under our laws, we believe that nobody is above the law.”

SCARBOROUGH: What would happen if in a case you were trying — any case that you were trying — where a criminal defendant is told ‘Don’t go out and call us thugs,’ then he goes out on the court steps, holds a press conference and the defendant calls them ‘thugs?’ I don’t know where you practiced. I can tell you where I practiced, the judge would call him back in, hold him in contempt of court, and throw him in jail.

ROSENBERG: Where I practiced, if somebody violated a court order, the judge would haul them back in, hold them in contempt and sanction them. Maybe fine them, maybe put them in jail, but they’d certainly sanction them. You and I agree on that, Joe. There’s a problem, though. It is much more difficult than that.

You know, we all ought to try to find the simple answer. I don’t know that there is one. First of all, how do you put somebody with a Secret Service detail in prison? Secondly, because the First Amendment absolutely protects political speech, tell me precisely what is the line between political speech, valid criticism of Mr. Biden or the Justice Department, and speech that violates her order? I just don’t know. Maybe I’m not smart enough to figure out where that line clearly lies.

“You don’t create one set of rules for Donald Trump and another set of rules for the other 330 million people,” Scarborough said, putting his arguments in a nutshell. “If he steps out of line, you sanction him. If he steps out of line, sanction him again. If he steps out of line the third time, I think every federal judge would throw him in jail regardless of who he is.”

Chutkan is not protected by the parameters of the gag order she set, and Trump railed against her in a speech last night.

Watch above via MSNBC.

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