Judge fines Trump again in criminal trial and warns of prison sentence

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal trial fined him $1,000 and found him in contempt of court for the tenth time for violating a gag order, and warned that any further violations could land the former US president in prison. .

Judge Juan Merchan said the nine $1,000 fines he had imposed did not appear to be stopping the businessman from violating the order, which prohibits him from making public comments about jurors, witnesses and family members of the judge and prosecutors if the statements have the purpose of interfering in the case.

Merchan stated that he considered prison time “really a last resort” for several reasons, including the disruption of the trial, the political implications of arresting a major presidential candidate before an election, and the extraordinary security challenges of incarcerating a former president with a lifetime secret service.

But he said Trump’s “continuous and willful” violations of the gag order amounted to a “direct attack on the rule of law.”

“I don’t want to impose a prison sentence and I have done everything I can to avoid that. But I will if necessary,” Merchan declared from the stand, in the absence of the jury.

New York law allows for fines of up to $1,000 or a prison sentence of up to 30 days for violating a court-imposed gag order.

Merchan imposed a $1,000 fine on Monday for an April 22 broadcast interview in which the former Republican president said: “That jury was picked very quickly – 95 percent Democrats. The area is almost all Democrats.”

He concluded that other statements flagged by prosecutors that mentioned witnesses Michael Cohen and David Pecker did not violate the order.

Last week, Merchan fined Trump $9,000 for nine social media posts that he said violated the gag order.

Merchan spoke as Trump sat at the defendant’s table in the New York courtroom in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president.

Trump’s criminal trial over secret payments to a porn star, which is entering its 12th day, has already featured testimony from a former aide to the former president and a former tabloid editor about Trump’s actions during his first presidential bid to hush up stories of unflattering sexual behavior.

New York prosecutors accuse Trump of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had a sexual encounter with him in 2006. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies having sexual relations with Daniels.

Trump has frequently complained that the gag order limits his ability to present his case to voters for a new bid for the White House.

Speaking to reporters before Monday’s session, Trump declined to comment about Cohen, his former lawyer who is expected to be a key witness in the trial.

However, he repeated allegations, without showing evidence, that New York prosecutors are working with U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, to harm his political prospects and said Merchan faces a conflict of interest because his daughter worked for Democratic politicians. Trump’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully to have Merchan removed from the case.

“The judge has gagged me and I’m not allowed to talk about, I think, his total conflict,” Trump told reporters outside the courtroom. “He took away my constitutional right to speak.”