The judge in charge of the criminal case against former President of the United States Donald Trump fined him again this Monday (6) US$1,000 (approximately R$5,000) for violating a gag order and stated which is considering the possibility of arresting him, given that these economic sanctions do not appear to be working.
“The last thing I want to do is put you in prison,” Judge Juan M. Merchán told the former president and current Republican candidate for the November presidential election, then adding: “but at the end of the day I have a job to do.”
The judge explained to Trump that the continued violation of his “gag order”, which prohibits him from publicly criticizing witnesses, prosecutors and jurors, is a “direct attack on the rule of law” and that he cannot allow this to continue. This is the second time in two weeks that the judge has found the former president guilty of contempt.
Last week, Merchán fined Trump US$9,000 (about R$45,000) after determining that he had violated the “gag order” by making several public statements on his social network, Truth Social, and on the website of his campaign, in which he attacked the witnesses who participated in the trial.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of first-degree falsifying business records to cover up an extramarital sexual relationship with porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign.
The former US president has repeated on several occasions that he is innocent and that this trial is a kind of witch hunt.
This is the fourth week of the trial and today the testimony of Jeffrey McConney, who worked as a corporate accountant at the Trump Organization and, according to prosecutors, helped organize the refund of a payment of US$130,000 (about R$660,000) to Daniels.
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