Judge Rules On Trump’s Alleged Gag Order Violations In Hush Money Trial

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan determined Tuesday that Donald Trump violated the terms of a gag order intended to prevent him from lobbing public attacks on people involved in his criminal hush money trial, warning the former president he could face jail time if he continues to ignore the order.

Trump “is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” Merchan wrote in his ruling.

Merchan added that the former president would be fined a total of $9,000 for nine of the 10 incidents that the prosecution alleged had violated the directive. Trump would need to make that payment by Friday, the ruling states.

Prosecutors argued at a hearing with the judge that Trump violated the order 10 times through derisive social media posts and posts to his official campaign website, putting witnesses in the case at risk of feeling intimidated.

“What happened here is precisely what the order was designed to prevent and the defendant doesn’t care,” prosecuting attorney Christopher Conroy said during the hearing last Tuesday.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged the former president with 34 counts of falsifying business records in relation to his 2016 payoff to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who alleges she had an affair with Trump while he was married. Trump denies the affair and has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors urged the judge to fine Trump $1,000 per alleged violation. He was similarly fined at his state-level civil fraud trial; a judge told him to fork over $15,000 for violating a gag order in that case.

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