The judge presiding over his trial Donald Trump in New York fined the former president $9,000 for contempt of court and threatened to “jail” him for violating an order barring him from making statements against witnesses and jurors.
Donald Trump is “warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of his orders and, if necessary and appropriate, will sentence him to prison,” Judge Juan Mercan said in a written ruling.
The judge announced his decision in front of Trump at the start of today’s hearing. It fined him $1,000 for each violation (nine in all) of his order, the maximum allowed by law.
The former president is on trial on charges of falsifying accounting documents to hide money he paid to prevent a sex scandal from being revealed shortly before the 2016 presidential election. He paid former porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep her quiet about the affair contact she said they had in 2006, when Trump was already married to Melania. He denies having an affair with Daniels.
Before the trial began the judge barred Trump from verbally attacking witnesses and jurors, as he regularly does through his website, Truth Social. From the first day of the trial, on April 15, prosecutors sought to punish Trump for his statements against Daniels and his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who has become his sworn enemy and is a key prosecution witness in the case.
Merchan also ordered Trump to delete the posts from Truth Social and his campaign website.
About 25 supporters of the former president had gathered outside the courthouse Tuesday morning, chanting his name and holding signs reading “Trump 24.” A local Republican organization had asked party supporters to gather after Trump complained that few people were showing up for him.
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