The magistrate judge presiding over former President Donald Trump's federal indictment in D.C. on Thursday warned him not to commit any crimes while he is awaiting trial.
Trump appeared before Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya, where he pleaded not guilty to four charges accusing him of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss ahead of the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Upadhyaya told the former president that "the most important condition of release is not committing any new crimes while on release, which could lead to him being detained and could add to the sentence he may eventually face," according to NPR. "She told Trump that it is a crime to 'influence a juror or try to threaten or bribe a witness or retaliate against anyone' connected to the case. Trump said he understands."
Trump has repeatedly attacked prosecutors and judges in his growing number of legal cases.
"Trump admonished not to commit any crimes as a term of his release. This guy obstructs justice like most of us breathe. And, as the judge observed, it's also a crime to influence a juror. Same's true re: a witness. Could be a wild ride," predicted columnist and author David Rothkopf.
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who served on special counsel Bob Mueller's team, told MSNBC that the order was "unusual."
"The standard condition that a judge usually emphasizes to a defendant is that they have to show up at each court appearance. That is the most important thing. That is what bail is for — so that you'll show up in court," he said. "But I heard that the standard condition and most important thing today is 'do not commit a crime'' followed up by 'do not tamper with a juror.' My first reaction was, I was a prosecutor for 21 years and I was a defense lawyer for five years, and I've never heard that."
"I have never heard that": @AWeissmann_ stunned at judge telling Trump not to commit a crime, tamper with juror. pic.twitter.com/QbFE3ptPln
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 3, 2023
Some legal experts say the conditions could prove too "complicated" for Trump.
"The standard language may not work here, when you have thousands of Americans who could be witnesses and he continues to have daily contact with people who may be involved," said Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law, told the Associated Press. "Everything is more complicated in this case because of who the defendant is, what he has done and that he wants to be president again."
Upadhyaya on Thursday set the first hearing in the case for August 28, at which time U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will oversee the case, will set a trial date.
Former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman said it was "very significant that Judge Chutkan already has decided, and told the magistrate to tell the parties, that she will set trial date next hearing."
"More frequently the judge will have a first hearing and then set schedule no earlier than second hearing, She's focused on schedule," he tweeted.
Weissmann told MSNBC that it was "not unusual" for the magistrate judge to have discussed the case with the district judge but "what is unusual is to be so focused on the trial date."
"That to me, for people who are thinking that Chutkan is not focused on whether this case can go to trial before the general election in November 2024, is the issue," he said. "And it's also clear that Trump attorney John Lauro knows that and that is the reason he started saying during the arraignment that he needed to know about the volume of discovery. Because it's going to be a little eye-popping. There is going to be a huge amount of discovery material and Smith's team is going to have to deal with that issue. That is going to be the fight."
