Judge threatens Trump with jail time after violating oath of secrecy

American presidential candidate Donald Trump must fear a prison sentence now that he has broken rules for the tenth time in a lawsuit against him. Trump has been given an oath of silence not to talk about the judge or witnesses surrounding the case. However, he has broken that rule several times. “It is a very strange game that is being played here,” says America correspondent Jan Postma.

“The judge has clearly indicated that he does not want to send Trump to jail, but that he is forced to do so because Trump does not comply with the rules.” At the same time, the former president uses the threat of a prison sentence in his media talks and campaigns, Postma sees. “The judge mainly wants Trump to keep his mouth shut.”

And so the judge fined Trump another thousand dollars. However, judge Juan Merchan has doubts about the influence of the fine, because the amount of the fine ‘does not act as a deterrent’. If Trump violates the rules of the case again, a prison sentence will be considered, Merchan emphasized. Trump has previously been fined a total of $9,000 in the case. He also had to delete messages he posted on his social medium Truth Social.

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In the first criminal case in American history against a former American president, Trump is accused of falsifying data to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. She claims to have had a sex affair with him. He did not want that to come out shortly before the 2016 presidential elections, which he won.