Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg withdrew his request to New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Tuesday to incarcerate former President Donald Trump for reportedly breaching a gag order, as reported by court reporters. Trump seemed to challenge Bragg’s stance, stating in April that he would consider it an “HONOR” to be likened to a “modern-day Nelson Mandela” in prison for speaking out against Merchan.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Bragg sought Merchan’s intervention to penalize Trump for allegedly violating the gag order. Merchan holds the power to impose fines and a maximum jail term of 30 days on the former president for breaching the order. However, Bragg seemed to have a change of heart during the hearing. He retracted his request and refrained from asking the judge to penalize Trump with imprisonment.
Reuters reported :
“Prosecutor Conroy said Trump’s April 17 post on Truth Social stating that liberal activists were being caught trying to sneak onto the Trump jury was “very troubling.” Trump’s post attributed the quote to Jesse Watters, a Fox News host. Conroy said Watters said in his show, “They are catching undercover liberal activists lying to the judge.” Conroy said that the Truth Social post read, “They are catching undercover liberal activists lying to the judge in order to get on the Trump jury.”’
Merchan stated that he would refrain from making an immediate ruling on the gag order.
