New York judge Juan Merchan has sentenced Donald Trump to a fine of 9,000 dollars (8,400 euros) because the American presidential candidate violated his silence order nine times in the criminal trial surrounding the payment of hush money to former porn actress Stormy Daniels. The judge also threatened to jail Trump if he violated the gag order again.
By ignoring the gag order, Trump is guilty of contempt of court. Public prosecutor Matthew Colangelo therefore requested the maximum fine of $1,000 per offensive publication last week, something Merchan followed him in.
The judge also ordered Trump to remove nine “offensive posts” published between April 10 and 17 by 2:15 p.m. (8:15 p.m. in Belgium). Seven of those posts are on Truth Social, the social network of which he himself is the driving force, the other two on his campaign website.
Merchan also warns Trump not to tolerate “continued deliberate violations of his lawful orders” and will “impose prison time if necessary.” Donald Trump, who must be present in the courtroom during the trial, did not react when the judge read his decision.
The judge had imposed a temporary gag order on Trump in late March to ensure that the ex-president no longer makes public statements about witnesses in the hush money case, jurors, members of the court and their families and attorneys other than Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Previous statements Trump made about those individuals were “threatening, inflammatory and derogatory” and pose a risk to the administration of justice, Judge Merchan said.
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Yet in recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly attacked parties involved in the lawsuit on social media. Most of the attacks were aimed at Michael Cohen, his former lawyer but now his arch-enemy and the most important witness at the trial. The judge himself was also punished: “The highly controversial, to remain friendly, Judge Juan Merchan has taken away my constitutional right to freedom of expression. Anyone can speak and lie about me, but I can’t defend myself. This is a show trial, the judge should recuse himself!” Trump said a week ago.
The criminal trial in New York revolves around the payment of $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels, who wanted to reveal during the 2016 presidential campaign that she had had an affair with Trump. The ex-president is said to have repaid that money to his then lawyer Michael Cohen with campaign funds, and to have that payment included in the accounts as “legal costs”.
