The vulgar court record in Trump’s historic criminal trial

When Justice Juan Merchan, the judge presiding over Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial in New York, found him in contempt of court for a tenth violation of the gag order, he warned the former president that he could face jail time if he continues to offend.

The judge acknowledged the momentousness of jailing a presidential candidate in an election year but told Mr Trump: “At the end of the day I have a job to do, and part of that job is to protect the dignity of the justice system.”

Unfortunately for Judge Merchan, “dignity” has been a commodity in short supply in the trial.

During three weeks of testimony at Manhattan Criminal Court about a conspiracy to buy the silence of an adult film star to cover up an alleged affair, jurors have heard about a cast of decidedly colourful characters and the courtroom has been rife with speculation about flatulence and snoring erupting from the defence bench.

In addition to unexpected references to celebrities – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods, Hulk Hogan and Serena Williams – the trial has served up a wave of astonishingly vulgar phrases.

These filthy terms have now been entered into the court record where they will live on forever as part of the historic first criminal trial of an American president.

This nasty nickname for Mr Trump was coined by Michael Cohen, his estranged former “fixer” and attorney who is expected to be the prosecution’s star witness when he takes the stand next week.

The crude name had to be entered into the public record after Mr Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche read aloud one of Cohen’s X posts using the name on 2 May, with the defence arguing that the offending post was a reason to lift the former president’s gag order.

“Everybody can say anything they