Judge fines Trump for contempt of court, threatens jail
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial fined the former US prez $9,000 for contempt of court on Tuesday and said he would consider jailing him if he continued to violate a gag order.
In a written order, Justice Juan Merchan said the fine may not be enough to serve as a deterrent for the wealthy businessman-turned-politician and lamented he did not have the authority to impose a higher penalty.
In a written order, Justice Juan Merchan said the fine may not be enough to serve as a deterrent for the wealthy businessman-turned-politician and lamented he did not have the authority to impose a higher penalty.
“Defendant is hereby warned that the court will not tolerate willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” Merchan wrote. Merchan had imposed the gag order to prevent Trump from criticising witnesses and others involved in the case.
The judge fined Trump $1,000 for each of nine online statements that he said violated his order not to criticise witnesses or other participants in the trial. Prosecutors had flagged 10 posts as possible violations. The posts, made between April 10 and April 17, included an article calling his former lawyer Michael Cohen a “serial liar”. Cohen is expected to be a key witness in the trial. Another post quoted a Fox News pundit who claimed “undercover liberal activists” were trying to sneak onto the jury.
The judge fined Trump $1,000 for each of nine online statements that he said violated his order not to criticise witnesses or other participants in the trial. Prosecutors had flagged 10 posts as possible violations. The posts, made between April 10 and April 17, included an article calling his former lawyer Michael Cohen a “serial liar”. Cohen is expected to be a key witness in the trial. Another post quoted a Fox News pundit who claimed “undercover liberal activists” were trying to sneak onto the jury.
Merchan rejected Trump’s argument that he could not be held liable for “reposts” of material he did not write himself. Merchan will consider whether to impose further penalties for other statements at a hearing Thursday. The judge also ordered Trump to remove the statements from his Truth Social account and his campaign website by 2.15pm EDT.
Trump has argued that the gag order violates his free speech rights, and his lawyer Todd Blanche told Merchan last week that the statements at issue were responses to political attacks. Merchan noted that Blanche was unable to provide any evidence that the expected witnesses had attacked Trump before he insulted them.
The $9,000 fine, due by Friday, is a relatively small penalty for Trump, who has already posted $266.6 million in bonds as he appeals civil judgments in two other cases. Imprisonment, however, would be an unprecedented twist in the first criminal trial of a former US prez. It is unclear whether Trump would be sent to New York City’s jail on Rikers Island, or whether security concerns would require more lenient treatment, such as home confinement in his Trump Tower.
Judge’s order came as the trial resumed with testimony from banker Banker Garry Farro who said Cohen used a shell company to wire $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawyer in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump in 2006.
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