Donald Trump Held In Contempt And Fined $9,000 For Violations Of Judge’s Gag Order
30.04.2024 - 16:11
/ deadline.com
Former President Donald Trump was found in contempt of court and fined $9,000 today for violating a judge’s partial gag order.
Trump also was ordered to remove seven posts from his Truth Social account and two posts from a campaign website by 2:15 p.m. today.
The judge, Juan Merchan, also warned Trump that he could face “incarceratory punishment” for further violations.
Read Merchan’s ruling.
The gag order restricts Trump from commenting on potential witnesses, many of the prosecutors, courtroom staff and the judge’s family members. Trump also is prohibited from commenting on prospective jurors.
Prosecutors sought fines against Trump as he continued to post about his former attorney Michael Cohen, as well as Stormy Daniels, both of whom are expected to testify in the trial. The former president is charged with falsification of business records stemming from hush money payments made to Daniels. Trump has plead not guilty.
Prosecutors had sought the contempt order, pointing to 10 of Trump’s social media posts. Merchan ruled that Trump was in criminal contempt for all but one of those posts.
The judge also rejected Trump attorneys’ arguments that his reposts of others did not violate the order.
Merchan wrote that by reporting, Trump endorsed the posts with one purpose in mind – to maximize viewership and to communicate his stamp of approval. Indeed, Defendant has boasted about the reach of his Truth Social platform when describing its value – ‘More importandy, [Truth Social] is the primry why I get the word out and, for better or worse, people want to hear what I have to say, perhaps, according to experts, more than anyone in the world … on Truth I have 7,00,000 [sic] followers …”
Merchan wrote that “it is