The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s landmark criminal trial in New York once again found the former US president in contempt of a gag order on Monday and warned of potential jail time for any future violations. Trump, aged 77, stands accused of falsifying business records to reimburse his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton.
Judge Juan Merchan held him in contempt of court and imposed a $1,000 fine for violating the gag order
Judge Juan Merchan held Trump in contempt of court and imposed a $1,000 fine for violating the gag order, which prohibits him from publicly attacking witnesses, jurors, or court staff and their relatives. However, Merchan noted that the fines—Trump was also fined a total of $9,000 last week—were not proving to be a sufficient “deterrent,” and he would have to consider jail time for any further violations.
“As much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction…, I want you to understand I will,” Merchan told Trump, adding that he understood the “magnitude of such a decision.”
“At the end if the day I have a job to do and part of that job is to maintain the dignity of the justice system,” the judge said, calling Trump’s defiance a “direct attack on the rule of law.”
Merchan’s ruling came at the beginning of the trial’s third week of testimony, in which Trump is accused of covering up hush money payments to Daniels as part of a scheme to avoid potentially damaging publicity just before the election. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer turned adversary, are both expected to testify at some point during the trial.
Alongside the New York case, Trump faces indictments in Washington and Georgia
Hope Hicks, a former close advisor to Trump, testified on Friday about the “crisis” that gripped his 2016 presidential campaign after a tape emerged of him boasting about groping women. Hicks stated that she was “a little stunned” by the now-infamous Access Hollywood tape in which Trump was heard bragging about grabbing women’s genitalia.
“There was consensus among us all that the tape was damaging, this was a crisis,” she added. Hicks played a pivotal role in the final stages of Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign when the hush money payments to Daniels were allegedly made. Prosecutors claim that panic over the tape prompted a Trump campaign effort to silence Daniels over her claim of a 2006 sexual encounter with the married Trump. Trump denies ever having had sex with Daniels. The trial has captivated both the legal and political spheres as Trump seeks to regain the White House from President Joe Biden in November’s election.
Alongside the New York case, Trump faces indictments in Washington and Georgia for allegedly conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which Biden won. He also faces charges of unlawfully storing large quantities of top-secret documents taken from the White House after his presidency at his Florida home.
