The judge who oversees the former president Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York bailed him out in court Tuesday for violating a gag order that limits what he can say about those involved in the case, and warned him he could be jailed if he violates the order again.
Judge Juan Merchan said Trump violated the order nine times in recent weeks in posts on Trump's Truth Social platform and campaign website, many of which targeted key witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels of the case Merchan fined Trump $9,000, or $1,000 for each violation, and ordered him to delete the posts.
The judge announced the sentence from the bench and issued an attached written order. He wrote that Trump “violated the Order by making social media posts about known witnesses related to his involvement in this criminal trial and by making public statements about jurors in this criminal trial.”
Merchan wrote that New York law does not allow him to impose a fine greater than $1,000 per violation, which “unfortunately will not achieve the desired result in those cases where the [defendant] can easily afford that fine.” He said a higher fine might be appropriate in such cases, but because it does not have that discretion, the court “must therefore consider whether in some cases, imprisonment may be a punishment necessary”.
He concluded with a warning to Trump: “The defendant is warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its legal orders and will, if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, impose a prison sentence.”
Trump's gag order
Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images
mercantile issued the original gag order in March, before the trial began. It barred Trump from commenting on potential witnesses, prospective jurors, court personnel, prosecution lawyers and others related to the case. The judge later expanded that order to cover his own family members after Trump attacked his daughter for her consulting work with Democratic candidates and progressive causes.
The gag order does not prevent Trump from criticizing Merchan or Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney.
Prosecutors in Bragg's office filed a motion urging the judge to find Trump in contempt of 10 posts targeting Cohen, Daniels and others. Merchan found that Trump violated the order in all but one of the posts.
Prosecutors presented four other cases in which they said Trump violated the order when the court convened last Thursday. These four alleged violations are the subject of a hearing to be held this week.
At a hearing on the posts earlier last week, Chris Conroy, a lawyer for Bragg's team, said they “willfully and flagrantly” violated the order.
“No one is off limits to the defendant. He can attack and try to intimidate anyone he wants in his service,” said prosecutor Chris Conroy. He asked the judge to fine each site $1,000 and order Trump to remove them.
Todd Blanche, Trump's lawyer, argued that his client was responding to political attacks on his posts and did not believe he was violating the order by reposting or quoting others. Merchan repeatedly asked her to name the precise attacks Trump was responding to, which Blanche was unable to do.
“Mr. Blanche, you're losing all credibility. I have to say it right now. You're losing all credibility in court,” Merchan said at one point.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to repaying a $130,000 “hush money” payment to Daniels, an adult film star who said she had a sexual encounter with Trump, which which Trump denies. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case and has repeatedly protested the gag order as “unconstitutional.”
