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“If they jail people for criminal contempt, Trump can pardon them and they can get out. But courts can also charge people with civil contempt, which is not a penalty — it's a coercion,” Super said.

Mr Williams' lead attorney, Brian Steel, was also found in criminal contempt in June this year after refusing to reveal how he got to know about the meeting.

As a result, Glanville found Steel in criminal contempt of court and sentenced him to spend 10 weekends in Fulton County Jail — though Steel was quickly cleared of the sentence.

Because of the ten criminal contempt charges, Trump may get a harsher sentence than he would have gotten otherwise if he hadn't been so recalcitrant.

On Tuesday, New York Judge Juan Merchan found Trump in "criminal contempt for willfully disobeying a lawful mandate of this Court" and ordered Trump to pay a total of $9,000 in fines.