Judge holds Trump in contempt for violating gag order in hush money trial
Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office accused Trump of violating the gag order numerous times since it went into effect.
The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money case on Tuesday held the former president in criminal contempt over a series of posts on Truth Social that he said violated a gag order barring any attacks on jurors and witnesses.
Judge Juan Merchan ruled Trump in contempt for nine violations of his gag order, with a fine of $1,000 for each instance. The order prohibits the former president from "making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding," and "public statements about any prospective juror or any juror."
Merchan had indicated on April 23 that he was not impressed by the arguments from the defense, telling one of Trump's attorneys that he was “losing all credibility” when he suggested that Trump was exercising caution to comply with the gag order.
I know this is a popular thing to be angry about, but this time there was an actual fine. The consequences are being ratcheted up. The judge is just taking as much care as possible to make sure that all the "t"s are crossed and "i"s dotted along the way, otherwise he risks the whole trial being thrown out in the end. Look at some of the other high-profile "this rich guy's guilty as sin but got off anyway" cases, they often boil down to some screw-up that doesn't disprove the overall case but still invalidates the trial. Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby pop to mind.
A $9,000 fine is hardly a consequence for the rich.
Yes, but as I explained, the judge is proceeding by steps up the ladder of consequences. The next time Trump violates a gag order he can now say "I have demonstrated that fines are insufficient, and so I'm moving on to jail time."
The judge is limited - $1000 per violation is the maximum that can be imposed.
Sadly, it's a limitation of the legal system. The judge even admitted in his ruling on this that he acknowledges that the monetary punishment is inadequate considering Donald Trump's wealth and status. He threatened jail time for future incidents.
The point is that as much as any sane person wants to see Trump behind bars, if you just skip straight to locking him up, he will use that as grounds for a mistrial. I'd rather see justice done slowly, him given every warning and every opportunity to correct his bad behavior. Yes, it's not fair that he gets treated with kid gloves time and time again while a street level drug dealer would just get held without bond, say nothing of what would happen if they were to be charged with criminal contempt, but without going through the whole process Trump will just use the temporary incarceration to paint himself as a victim of political persecution and pivot it to his advantage when he inevitably appeals the guilty verdict.
True. But if he continues to ignore the court despite the maximum non-custodial penalty the judge will have cause to have him detained.
They probably can't logistically put him in a cell, but they can probably give him house arrest and have the internet disconnected.
Ive heard this for every single trial trump has faced. This strategy isnt doing shit but making sure trump is comfortable before facing no consequences yet again.
This is the first criminal trial. You haven't heard it in this regard before.
And unlike prior trials it started with fines rather than just warnings. The maximum allowed fine, even!
I mean it should have been criminal consequences for the russian collusion and ukraine blackmail cases. But both times I was assured they're just making sure they handle everything spotlessly to ensure he faces...and it's gone.
The complexity is crazy. The federal system failing to hold him accountable because of politics is disgraceful. Thankfully he can't avoid the States legal system that same way.
man even this exact case has warped beyond the boundaries of whats supposed to be law to protect Trump. We already got a guilty verdict that Trump ordered his lawyer to pay this girl, but only the lawyer faced consequences. this shit's in real jeopardy of hitting up against statute of limitations for a crime committed in 2016.