NOS News•today, 5:51 PM
Donald Trump has been fined again for not complying with rules imposed by the judge in the hush money trial against him. The former president must pay $1,000 for comments about the jury, which the judge had prohibited.
It is the tenth fine that Trump has received for this. This time the judge emphatically warned that he could face a prison sentence if he does not stop.
Trump is on trial in New York for paying hush money to Stormy Daniels, a porn actress who claims to have had sex with him. According to the prosecutor, Trump falsified his business records to cover up that payment. He could get a maximum of four years in prison for that.
Smear campaign
At the start of the trial, Judge Merchan specifically forbade Trump from speaking ill of people involved in the trial, such as jurors and witnesses. The judge’s family members are also covered by that gag order, after Trump started a smear campaign about Merchan’s daughter.
Last week, Merchan fined Trump a total of $9,000 for nine social media posts. Trump protested that the judge was restricting his freedom of expression, but decided to remove the offending messages after the fine.
After this fine, prosecutors came up with four more examples in which they believe Trump violated the rules. Merchan agreed with them in one case: an April 22 TV interview in which Trump criticized the jurors: “That jury was chosen so quickly and 95 percent of them are Democrats,” Trump said at the time. “It really is such an unfair situation.”
‘Direct attack on the rule of law’
“It appears that the fines are not deterrent enough. That is why this court will now also have to consider a prison sentence,” the judge warned in his new sentence. He can detain Trump for thirty days for contempt of court.
Merchan added that he does not approach that option lightly. Not only would it complicate the trial, the decision to jail a former and possibly future president is no small feat. “It’s really a final step for me,” Merchan emphasized. “But I cannot allow you to disrupt legal proceedings and launch a direct attack on the rule of law.”
According to an AP journalist in the room, Trump hardly responded to the reminder. He scowled at the judge, shook his head twice and crossed his arms.
