In a normal criminal case, the defendant doesn’t talk to the public or openly speak about the proceedings at all. If anyone says anything public-facing, it’s the lawyer. In a normal criminal case, the defendant certainly wouldn’t appear to be trying to publicly threaten or influence the lawyers, witnesses, prosecutors, and judges at the heart of a case. And in a normal criminal case, if a defendant took the extremely ill-advised step of making such a threat, they could face jail time for contempt of court or even worse, additional criminal charges.
But Donald Trump, who is facing four serious criminal indictments across courts in four states, and seems to lash out at those involved in these prosecutions on a near-daily basis, is not a normal defendant, and he’s certainly not facing ordinary charges.
