Judge slaps Trump with $9,000 in fines -- and warns 'jail may be a necessary punishment'
New York Judge Juan Merchan has ruled in the dispute over whether former President Donald Trump violated the gag order in the Manhattan hush money trial. He has determined that Trump violated the order in at least nine separate instances.
The decision means that the former president will be fined $9,000 and will be forced to remove the offending posts that violated the gag order from his Truth Social page.
What's more, as flagged by legal reporter Adam Klasfeld, Merchan warned Trump that he could be incarcerated if he continues to flaunt his gag order.
Merchan said that New York state law does not permit him to escalate fines against Trump, which led him to conclude that the court "must therefore consider whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment" for future violations.
This comes after a contentious hearing last week, during which Merchan sharply rebuked Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche for his arguments in support of his client, saying that they were not credible.
The gag order imposed on Trump in the case, which centers on allegations he falsified business records to cover up hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels to suppress negative information about himself from voters in the 2016 election, is relatively permissive, allowing him to criticize Merchan, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and the charges against him generally. However, he is prohibited from disparaging likely witnesses, and the family of court officers, among other things.
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At issue is the fact that the former president has continued to publicly attack Michael Cohen, his former attorney and fixer who arranged the payment to Daniels and is set to testify he did it on Trump's instruction. Most experts have argued that this is a violation of the order, as Cohen is one of the central witnesses in the case.
Trump and his defense counsel, for his part, have argued that he did not violate the gag order because he was simply re-upping criticism of Cohen posted by other figures, like Fox News' Jesse Watters, and not speaking in his own voice.
In the past, Trump was issued sanctions for violating gag orders in his civil trials, which resulted in thousands of dollars in fines. However, this was the first time he faced contempt of court allegations for a gag order in a criminal proceeding.