The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush-hush case on Tuesday retained the former president criminal contempt According to a series of posts on Truth Social, he told jurors and witnesses he had violated a gag order barring any assaults and warned Trump that he could be jailed for further violations.
Judge Juan Mercan held Trump in contempt for nine traffic violations with a fine of $1,000 for each instance. In his decision, he warned that he will not tolerate further violations of his orders and said that he would impose a “prison sentence” on the former president “if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances”.
The order prohibits the former president from “making or making public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses regarding their potential involvement in the investigation or this criminal proceeding” and “making public statements about any prospective juror or juror.” does.
Merchan stated that it was on April 23 not impressed told one of Trump’s lawyers that he had “lost all credibility” when he suggested that Trump was being cautious about complying with the gag order, according to defense arguments.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have accused Trump of violating Merch’s order at least 10 times since it took effect on April 1, including a memo subpoenaing prospective witnesses. Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels “bags”. Another appeared to be a quote from Fox News personality Jesse Watters: “They’re Catching Undercover Liberal Activists Lying to Judge to Get on Trump Jury.”
The DA sought a maximum fine of $1,000 for each post they deemed infringing and ordered Trump to remove the posts. Prosecutors also asked Merchan to warn Trump that future violations could be met with additional fines and up to 30 days in jail.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy said during a morning hearing on April 23 that Trump “appears” to be arrested for political purposes.
Trump’s legal team said the former president did not intentionally violate the order and was simply responding to a “barrage of political attacks.”
Despite pressure from the judge, Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, struggled to identify which attacks Trump was responding to. “I’ve asked you over and over again to give me an example and I can’t get an answer,” the judge said.
Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove said before that some of the posts were responses to testimony from Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, while others were reposted from people and news outlets, which he said did not violate the gag order. Merchan asked for case law to support this position, and Blanche said she had no right. “It’s just common sense, my dear,” said Blanche.
Trump pleaded not guilty 34 numbers Falsifying case records related to his reimbursement to Cohen for the attorney’s hush money payment to Daniels in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Daniels claims she had sex with Trump in 2006, an allegation he denies.
If found guilty, Trump faces up to 4 years in prison.