Judge Schedules New Donald Trump Gag Order Contempt Hearing In Latest Subplot Of Hush Money Trial
26.04.2024 - 14:03
/ deadline.com
Over three days of testimony this week, Donald Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan has spawned subplots inside and outside the courtroom.
With a decision on one contempt motion pending, Judge Juan Merchan has scheduled a hearing on Thursday for prosecutors to argue that Trump has committed more violations of the judge’s gag order against disparaging or intimidating witnesses, jurors and other trial participants.
At the first contempt hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors sought fines for ten Trump online posts blasting witnesses Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen and calling prospective jurors “liberal activists.” Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Chris Conroy said that next week’s hearing will cover four more alleged gag-order violations.
The last was at a construction site in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday where Trump visited with workers before heading to court. There, Trump addressed himself to the prosecution’s first witness, David Pecker, the former CEO of National Enquirer publisher American Media. “This is a message to Pecker: Be nice,” Trump said.
Trump appeared happy with Pecker’s testimony at the end of the day, calling it “breathtaking and amazing” afterwards. Defense lawyers got their turn to question Pecker, who agreed with Trump lawyer Emil Bove that long before Pecker did editorial favors for Trump, it was “standard operating procedure” at the company to buy exclusive rights to scandalous stories about celebrities and politicians, either to kill the stories or use them them as leverage.
Pecker gave several examples of stories buried through a “catch and kill” strategy: women coming forward with claims that they dated or were harassed by actor-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; a romantic affair
The website celebfans.org is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.