Trump’s Hush-Money Gag Order Win Could Backfire—And Land Him in Jail

Donald Trump may be happy that the gag order in his hush-money case has been partially lifted as he awaits sentencing, but it could backfire on him, one legal expert says.

Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor, said Tuesday night that the gag order change “may and probably will come back to bite” the former president and convicted felon. It could even lead to prison time.

Judge Juan Merchan altered the gag order Tuesday, allowing Trump to talk about the witnesses and jurors in the case. Trump is still barred from speaking about the prosecutors, court staff, and their families, though.

During the latest episode of his YouTube series Justice Matters, Kirschner said that the order’s changes are “in accordance with the law,” but he noted that there is a legitimate fear for the safety of the witnesses and jurors now that Trump can speak freely about them. Still, he believes that there could be a “silver lining.”

“How many of you think Donald Trump will begin posting and saying things about the witnesses that are harassing and intimidating and threatening and perhaps even violence-inducing?” Kirschner asked. In the likely event that Trump does this, it could result in a harsher sentence.

Even before the gag order was lifted, Trump attempted to skirt it in different ways. He had his political allies act as surrogates to criticize the people he couldn’t, even editing their words at times. Some politicians, such as Representatives Bob Good and Lauren Boebert, even admitted that they traveled to Trump’s Manhattan trial for this reason. Trump also criticized one of the prosecutors in the case without mentioning his name. And there are the 10 documented violations of the gag order, which Merchan has already punished Trump for to the tune of $10,000 in fines.

Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts in May for allegedly falsifying business records with the intent to further an underlying crime in the first degree for paying off adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up their affair before the 2016 election. The crime carries a sentence of up to four months in prison, and sentencing is scheduled for July 11, only four days before the Republican National Convention begins in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Merchan already has some alleged gag-order violations to consider before Trump’s sentencing hearing. The question is whether Trump will add to them between Thursday’s debate and July 11.

The Supreme Court on Thursday officially dismissed a challenge to Idaho’s medical emergency abortion clause, noting that it was “improvidently granted,” meaning that the high court should never have accepted the case in the first place.

The decision, which comes after the ruling was accidentally posted to the court’s website on Wednesday, restores the right to emergency abortion in Idaho—but only for now. The ruling will send the case back to a lower appeals court to be retried.

The case, Moyle v. United States, concerned whether pregnant people in the Gem State were allowed to get abortions when receiving lifesaving, critical care at hospitals—as required by federal mandate under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA—or whether they and their fetus would have been considered two separate people.

Idaho already has a near-total abortion ban, but the Alliance Defending Freedom, the far-right Christian legal advocacy group that argued the lawsuit on behalf of the state, utilized the case to advance the idea of fetal personhood. Under the stipulation, doctors would have been legally required to treat a fetus—no matter how underdeveloped—with the same medical care as the person carrying it, even if it posed a potentially life-threatening medical risk to the pregnant patient.

But drafting a state law that directly conflicts with medical care considered to be a minimum for Medicare-funded hospitals around the country was outside the realm of legal possibilities, wrote Justice Elena Kagan in a concurring opinion joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“EMTALA requires hospitals to provide abortions that Idaho’s law prohibits. When that is so, Idaho’s law is preempted,” Kagan wrote. “The Court’s ruling today follows from those premises.”

Justice Samuel Alito, joined in a dissenting opinion by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, plainly disagreed with Kagan’s description, arguing that EMTALA does not “unambiguously” require Medicare-funded hospitals to provide abortions. The conservative justices also claimed that EMTALA, a federal statute, does not supersede state law or its control of local medical practices—even if that local restriction has skyrocketed the rate at which pregnant women are airlifted from hospitals to receive out-of-state care, increasing the burden and cost of care on neighboring states.

“Idaho never consented to any conditions imposed by EMTALA and certainly did not surrender control of the practice of medicine and the regulation of abortions within its territory,” Alito wrote.

In her own opinion, Jackson disagreed with the court’s decision to duck a final say on the matter, especially after allowing a stay that prevented critical abortion access to linger in the state while it deliberated its decision.

“It is too little, too late for the Court to take a mulligan and just tell the lower courts to carry on as if none of this has happened,” Jackson wrote. By failing to make a decisive ruling on EMTALA’s protections, Jackson warned that “storm clouds loom ahead.”

This story has been updated.

Republicans are still working to buffer the impact of President Joe Biden’s performance in Thursday’s debate, expanding the conspiracy that the executive leader is relying on “mind-altering” drugs in case he hits hard against Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles took the inane idea a step further, touting his recently introduced bill dubbed “No Juicing Joe Act,” which his office said would require the White House to inform Congress any time Biden takes a drug “that could alter his alertness, judgment or mood.”

“‘No Juicing Joe’ would require him to divulge, to report to the American people, every time he takes a mind-altering stimulant like we know he’s gonna have to do before this debate,” Ogles told Newsmax’s Joe Pinion Wednesday. “They’re gonna have him juiced up and jacked up on some sort of cocktail so he can be lucid and take on or at least try to debate Donald Trump.”

Republicans have aggressively pushed the idea in recent weeks, attempting to frame Biden as the weaker, more feeble-minded option of the two. But that goes against myriad reports of Trump’s cognitive decline, dozens of examples of the former president nonsensically rambling at rallies, and a Pentagon report that Trump’s White House medical unit operated like a pill mill, indiscriminately doling out large prescriptions of modafinil, Adderall, fentanyl, morphine, and ketamine to staffers, with insiders claiming it was “awash in speed.”

Presidential prescriptions aren’t exactly unusual: John F. Kennedy, Jr. used his White House doctors to fight off back pain, and Richard Nixon relied on his doctors to treat bad moods. But no previous administrations have matched the level of debauchery of Trump’s, when in-office pharmacists unquestioningly handed out highly addictive substances to staffers who needed pick-me-ups or energy boosts—no doctor’s exam, referral, or prescription required.

In another attempt to superficially broaden the conspiracy’s credibility, Trump pressed the teetotaler president to take a drug test prior to the debate. But it wasn’t the first time that Trump has baselessly accused his opponents of drugging up before their debates. In 2016, Trump levied similar accusations against Hillary Clinton, and in 2020 he called on Biden to take a drug test after he told a North Carolina rally crowd that Biden gets a “big fat shot in the ass,” a claim that he revived this week.

Trump supporters are outraged that Thursday’s presidential debate will be fact-checked. On Wednesday, CNN senior reporter Daniel Dale posted that he’d be live fact-checking the debate, an extension of the work he already does fact-checking things Biden and Trump say.

Dale’s post sparked immediate outrage from Trump supporters, who insinuated that facts aren’t real if they come from CNN. Stephen Miller, Trump’s white nationalist former adviser, went so far as to claim the process of fact-checking the debate is an effort to “smear and spin for Biden.”

One user who described CNN as the “Communist News Network” asserted that CNN gave “Joe robbin’ ya Biden” the questions and that makeup artists will be implanting a “listening device” on Biden to help him remember his answers.

It’s a charming fable, but pretty far outside the bounds of reality. Debate questions tend to focus on each campaign’s platform, recent news items, and public statements. In addition, there’s no indication from Dale’s post that CNN will be interrupting the debate to provide the fact-checks or altering on-screen information to publicize a fact-check, just that one of the best fact-checkers in the business will be posting fact-checks as the debate happens.

Trump has a track record of lying prolifically, but that doesn’t mean Biden never gets fact-checked on CNN or that doing the heavy lifting of catching all of Trump’s lies in real time is a bias for Biden. It’s just that a leaky faucet isn’t as noticeable when placed next to an exploded water main. The simple truth is if Trump said fewer factually untrue things, he wouldn’t get fact-checked all the time.

This latest outrage over live fact-checking comes after weeks of Team Trump insisting Trump’s going to lose the debate, with excuses ranging from claims Biden will be doped up on hard drugs and that moderators are biased against him as he struggles to not be a “raging asshole.”

The New Republic will also have a live watch party for the debate. You can tune in at 9 p.m. E.T. here.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, while attempting to call out the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, inadvertently owned herself and fellow supporters of Donald Trump.

Speaking in Congress Wednesday night about 2025 State Department and foreign operations spending, Greene proposed reducing USAID chief Samantha Power’s salary to $1, slamming her as a “globalist, left-wing activist who uses government positions to force the regime’s views on the American people and the rest of the world.

“A person who abuses her position in government to meddle in democratic elections should be nowhere near public office,” Greene said, the reality of the remark whistling over her own head.

According to former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony before the House January 6 committee, Greene had asked the Trump administration for a pardon after the Capitol insurrection. What did she think she needed a pardon for, if not for attempting to meddle in the 2020 presidential election?

Plus, there are the charges that Trump faces for election interference in Georgia, as well as for January 6 in Washington, D.C. By Greene’s logic, that means Trump should be kept far away from the White House. And there’s the myriad of Trump allies who are charged for election interference in places including Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. Does Greene think that all of those officials should be barred from public office?

Greene probably wasn’t thinking. She freaks out if anyone insinuates she’s less than adored by the former president and convicted felon. Her words and actions have alienated her from her colleagues in Congress, and she’s pushing conspiracies ahead of Thursday night’s presidential debate. It’s funny that she thinks Samantha Power should be far away from government, when Greene is trying so desperately to keep Steve Bannon out of prison for contempt of Congress charges directly related to election interference.

One day, the contradictions in Greene’s head will drive her insane. Then again, there are a lot of people who think that’s been the case for a long time.

It seems like Taylor Swift isn’t the only one with a grudge against Kim Kardashian: The former president seems to have bad blood with the billionaire multihyphenate, as well.

In the soon-to-be released book Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass, the presumptive Republican nominee told Ramin Setoodeh, Variety’s co–editor in chief and the author of the book, that he was “disappointed in Kim.”

“With Kim I did a lot of prison reform that she couldn’t get done with anybody else, and I let people out of prison that I thought were deserving to be let out,” Trump said.

“And then after it was all over she announced that she’s not supporting me,” he continued. “She only did that to be cool in Hollywood.”

Kardashian has been an outspoken advocate for criminal justice reform, and championed the former president’s work on the issue. In 2018, Kardashian was a central figure in advocating for clemency for Alice Johnson, who was sentenced to life in prison plus 25 years for her involvement in a drug conspiracy. Once freed, Trump touted Johnson at political events as proof of his so-called commitment to prison reform—until she eventually refused to endorse him.

According to ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl’s book Tired of Winning, Trump agreed to help Kardashian get commutations in return for getting NFL players to appear at the White House.

Trump’s relationship with Kardashian supposedly soured after the 2020 election, when—although she’s never publicly stated whom she voted for—Trump became convinced she’d voted for President Joe Biden. That seems to be the one crime Trump just can’t forgive.

Months after Trump left office, he reportedly hung up on the reality TV star when she called him for a favor with a clemency case. Kardashian hasn’t let Trump spoil her advocacy, though, and recently appeared at the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris to celebrate Biden pardoning 11 people and commuting the sentences of five others convicted of nonviolent drug offenses.

Trump’s comments about Kardashian stand in sharp contrast to his fawning over Swift. In Setoodeh’s book, he gushed over the popular singer’s looks, calling her “beautiful” multiple times.

Swift and Kardashian are known to have a long-standing beef with each other, after the singer alleged she’d been secretly recorded by Kardashian, who posted videos of their conversation on Snapchat in support of her then-husband Kanye West. West had brutally humiliated Swift at the 2009 Grammys, and then years later went on to say that he might “still have sex” with the singer in a song.

Swift claims she was bullied by the former couple and never received an apology, and she has referred to the feud in multiple songs. Meanwhile, Kardashian has said she likes a lot of Swift’s music.

Trump literally phoned it in for a roundtable event with Black business leaders in Atlanta on Wednesday. The Trump campaign held a “roundtable” of six barber chairs lined up next to each other as part of a “Black Americans for Trump” event. Trump skipped the event, instead calling in to ramble about the tax cuts he’s looking to give the ultrarich and their billion-dollar corporations.

The roundtable setup featured Representative (and Trump V.P. wannabe) Byron Donalds, former Trump Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, and Representative Wesley Hunt in attendance. The seats were positioned in a semi-arc facing a gaggle of cameras and sea of white people, and everyone looks abundantly unenthused to be there.

The event highlights Trump’s lackluster attempts to bolster support among Black voters, a voting bloc that played a pivotal role in Biden’s victory in 2020 and still favors Biden over Trump. In May, Trump hosted a small rally in the Bronx to gin up the Black vote after an even smaller appearance at a Harlem bodega in April. And in June, Trump appeared at a Black church in Detroit before skipping off to a white nationalist convention. The church stunt was a flop: At least half the audience was white, none of the attendees reporters spoke with were actual congregants, and the megachurch’s pastor said people laughed in his face when he scrambled to find people to fill the pews for the event.

After Representative Jamaal Bowman’s defeat Tuesday night, Representative Cori Bush could be the next progressive in Congress to face trouble, as a new poll shows her narrowly behind a primary challenger.

The poll, commissioned by Democratic Majority for Israel, shows Bush behind St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell, 42 percent to 43 percent. DMI was one of the major donors to Bowman’s opponent, George Latimer, helping to make that race the most expensive House primary race ever, with Latimer outraising Bowman $5.7 million to $4.2 million.

While the poll was within the margin of error, a previous poll from January showed Bell trailing by 16 percentage points, suggesting that something has moved public opinion against Bush. Judging by the commissioned poll, it could be for the same reason that Bowman suddenly had a well-funded challenger: donors aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its PAC, the United Democracy Project, who flooded the race with money supporting Latimer after Bowman accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Latimer now calls himself a staunch supporter of Israel, opposing potential cease-fires on the basis that Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Bush seems to think something similar is happening in her St. Louis district, telling The New York Times in February, “I’m being targeted by AIPAC because not only do I believe Palestinians deserve to live freely and peacefully just like Israelis, but because I want to protect our democracy from Republican extremism.”

Bell claims that his focus is more on local issues, but his website reads, “In Congress, I’ll fight to make sure the United States remains Israel’s strongest ally.” He is also the recipient of plenty of United Democracy Project money. This has not endeared him to some progressives in Bush’s district.

“I don’t see Wesley Bell as a progressive,” Hannah Rosenthal, co-founder of Progressive Jews of St. Louis and a Bush supporter, told the Times. “His allegiance with AIPAC supporters is a prime example.”

As the war drags on, with the U.S. funding weapons that kill more and more Palestinian civilians each day, it seems that pro-Israel donors will keep spending as much as they can in local political races to ensure that Israel can continue the war indefinitely with U.S. support. Politicians and voters should realize this will only perpetuate a human rights catastrophe. Such donors are even on the wrong side of the NAACP when it comes to Israel’s brutal war in Gaza.

Perhaps these donors are afraid of actions that would actually end the conflict and promote peace: spurning a prime minister accused of war crimes and ending weapons shipments to Israel to force an immediate cease-fire.

If you take Republicans at their word, small businesses are the lifeblood of the party. But their mom-and-pop worship does not appear to apply to Milwaukee, the site of the 2024 Republican National Convention.

According to a new report from longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer, the RNC, which pitched a projected $200 million in economic impact in its bid to secure Milwaukee as a host city for the convention, has failed to book the expected number of local venues, leaving businesses set to close for the week to accommodate reservations and events related to the convention high and dry.

“That kind of anticipated economic impact that everyone was high-fiving and champagne-popping and press conferencing about. At this point in time, none of that really has come true, for the most part,” Gary Witt, president and CEO of the Pabst Theater Group, which owns several venues that have hosted presidential town halls in the city, said. “It’s 100 percent a case of ‘overpromise, underdeliver,’ on all parts, by everybody.”

The party of personal responsibility reportedly promised to book out theaters to host events throughout the week, only to back out. The same is true of restaurants, many of which blocked off reservations in advance, only to never hear back. “I have a feeling this is going to be a business killer.… “If the (reservation) book stays the way it is, we’re not going to make enough money to cover costs,” Gregory León, a restaurant owner in the city, said. “[This is] certainly nothing like we were told or promised, and I believe it is that way for almost every restaurant in the city, with the exception of the big restaurant groups. We were told that restaurants and venues would be booked months in advance.… It’s turned out to be quite the contrary.”

Witt characterized the RNC planning as “underwhelming” and a “failure.”

News of the empty venues is the latest chapter in the Republican Party’s bizarre project to antagonize the city of Milwaukee at every turn before the start of the convention. Donald Trump trashed the city repeatedly, calling it “horrible.” The RNC’s reneging on deals it promised to make with local businesses, on the other hand, is all too predictable, given that the committee is now a Trump family affair; Lara Trump was named co-chair in March 2024, and stiffing lawyers, cops, and contractors is something of a Trump tradition.

The Republican National Convention is set to begin July 15. In the meantime, the GOP may have found a new slogan: “‘Overpromise, underdeliver,’ on all parts, by everybody.”

Republicans in Congress are desperately trying to save Steve Bannon from prison—and they’re coming up with some insane legal theories in the process.

Representative Barry Loudermilk filed a brief with the Supreme Court Wednesday not only asking them to throw out Bannon’s contempt of Congress case but also adopting the standard that if any witness in a congressional investigation thinks a subpoena isn’t valid, they can ignore it.

It’s a crazy thing to push in a legal filing, and it completely ignores the facts of Bannon’s case: He didn’t make any such legal arguments until after he had flouted the subpoena against him. Subpoenas are meant to compel someone to come to court and testify. The idea that a witness should be allowed to ignore one would defeat their entire purpose.

Loudermilk’s filing didn’t even come from House lawyers, but rather outside counsel: Stephen Miller’s America First Legal firm, to be exact.

The move follows another last-ditch effort late Tuesday night, when Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP leaders held a secret vote to reject the previous Congress’s formal position on the January 6 committee. The Republicans’ hope was that their vote would undermine the legitimacy of the congressional committee and its subpoena of Bannon in turn, and allow members of Congress to file briefs on behalf of Bannon against the committee. It seems that Loudermilk’s brief came as a result of their efforts.

It’s unclear whether House Republicans will be able to make Bannon’s indictment, conviction, and four-month prison sentence just go away. Former Trump White House aide Peter Navarro also appealed to the Supreme Court to dodge his contempt of Congress sentence and failed, but he didn’t have America First Legal and House Republicans backing him. It remains to be seen whether this right-wing Supreme Court will help Bannon avoid serving time in a place such as Rikers Island.