Judge fines Trump and threatens jail time for violating gag order

The New York judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush-money trial fined the former president $9,000 and threatened him with jail time for social media posts the judge said violated a court-imposed gag order.

Judge Juan Merchan wrote in an order on Tuesday that Trump had violated a gag order against speaking out about several people involved in the trial nine times. Merchan fined the former president $1,000 for each violation and ordered him to delete the posts in question from Truth Social and Trump’s campaign website.

The judge warned Trump that additional violations of the gag order could result in jail time for the former president. Merchan complained that he is not legally allowed to fine Trump more than $1,000 for each violation, arguing that heftier fines, potentially as large as $150,000, would be more likely to produce the desired effect.

“Criminal contempt is punishable by a fine not exceeding $ 1,000, by jail not exceeding 30 days or by both in the discretion of the court, for each violation of a court order. … However, the Judiciary Law does not vest the Court with authority to craft an appropriate punishment when a $1,000 fine will not achieve the intended purpose,” Merchan wrote.

“While $1,000 may suffice in most instances to protect the dignity of the judicial system, to compel respect for its mandates and to punish the offender for disobeying a court order, it unfortunately will not achieve the desired result in those instances where the contemnor can easily afford such a fine,” he continued. “In those circumstances, it would be preferable if the Court could impose a fine more commensurate with the wealth of the contemnor.”

“In some cases that might be a $2,500 fine, in other cases it might be a fine of $150,000. Because this Court is not cloaked with such discretion, it must therefore consider whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment,” he said.

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Trump is on trial over $130,000 in alleged hush-money payments to the porn star known as Stormy Daniels in 2016. Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office say the former president illegally paid Daniels the money to keep her quiet about an alleged affair during the 2016 campaign. Trump faces 34 felony accounts of falsifying business records.

Merchan issued a gag order against Trump in March that barred him from commenting on potential witnesses, jurors, court staff, and attorneys. Later, after Trump pointed out Merchan’s daughter’s history working for elected Democrats, Merchan expanded the gag order to cover members of his family.