A judge in Manhattan, New York, on Tuesday fined Donald Trump $9,000 and issued a stern warning. The former American president is said to have violated the judge’s ban on verbally attacking witnesses and jurors in the historic criminal trial over an alleged hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. If Trump does that again, he will end up in jail.
Judge Juan Merchan made the warning this morning (local time) during the opening of the hearing. He fined Trump a total of $9,000 for his contempt of court, which is $1,000 for each time he violated his gag order on the case, a total of just over $8,400. Trump must also remove seven “offensive posts” from his Truth Social account and two from a campaign website.
Trump is also on trial again on Tuesday in the historic criminal trial over an alleged hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. The process officially started a day earlier. It is the first criminal case ever against an ex-president of the United States.
Read here exactly how the lawsuit works: Porn star Stormy Daniels can make it difficult for Trump in court: ‘Quite a strong case’
Wrong accounting
The former president is being prosecuted in his home city because, according to the justice department, he concealed in his accounts the fact that he paid $ 130,000 in hush money to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 American election campaign. She says she had an affair with Trump in 2006.
Paying hush money in itself is not illegal, nor is cheating on your wife with a porn actress. But falsifying your accounting is in New York State. Trump was also a presidential candidate at the time, and in a political campaign there are strict rules about accounting for income and expenditure. Trump and his lawyers are said to have tried to conceal the transaction.
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‘Witch Hunt’
Trump, who wants to try to become president for a second time, repeatedly called the trial “election interference.” “Everyone knows it, it is very unfair,” said the Republican. He also spoke again about a ‘witch hunt’. He regularly makes statements about the trial, witnesses and jury members via social media.
In total, Trump is accused of 34 criminal offenses.
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Tags: Judge threatens Trump prison sentence historic criminal trial
