NEW YORK — Former President Trump’s gag judge found he violated a gag order for the tenth time, giving Trump his sternest warning yet that future violations could carry prison time.
Judge Juan Merchan on Monday ordered Trump to pay $1,000 for attacking jurors in his historic criminal trial, just days after the judge ruled on a previous set of gag order violations.
“The defendant is hereby informed that, if appropriate and warranted, future violations of his lawful orders will be punishable by imprisonment,” Merchan wrote.
But the judge handed Trump a partial victory, ruling that prosecutors had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump violated his gag order in three other statements.
The gag order prohibits Trump from hurling insults at witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff or the judge’s family. That doesn’t stop him from attacking the judge himself or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D).
Trump has criticized the restrictions, saying they violate his First Amendment rights to respond to political attacks, as the presumptive Republican nominee becomes the first former US president to face a criminal trial.
The judge has now concluded that Trump violated his gag order a total of 10 times and must pay $1,000 for each violation. Prosecutors indicated they were not yet seeking prison time to “minimize disruptions” to the trial, but in handing down his ruling, the judge made it clear that the fines were not working.
The judge told Trump that “the last thing I want to do is put you in prison,” but “at the end of the day I have a job to do.”
“Their continued violations constitute a direct attack on the rule of law,” Merchan said.
Unlike the previous set of violations, which included nine posts on the Truth Social and Trump campaign website published through jury selection, the most recent round implicated comments spoken by the former president after testimony began.
Prosecutors focused on Trump’s statements in the courthouse hallway, at a campaign stop and during two media interviews.
The judge found that Trump violated his gag order on one of those four occasions: during an April 22 interview with the conservative channel Real America’s Voice, when Trump suggested he wouldn’t get a fair trial in deep-blue Manhattan.
“This jury was chosen very quickly – 95% Democrats,” Trump said. “The area is almost entirely Democrat. You think of it as a purely Democratic area. It’s a very unfair situation, I can tell you that.”
Several judges rejected these arguments, refusing to grant the former president a change of venue or a delay in the trial, and Merchan strongly warned against intimidation of jurors in his efforts to suppress the former president’s incendiary comments.
“The implication is that this is not a fair jury,” Merchan said at last week’s hearing, sounding irritated. “That’s the implication that was given to anyone who heard that comment.”
Prosecutor Chris Conroy said during the hearing that any comments Trump made about the jury would put the trial in jeopardy.
“He was in the media and used his platform to criticize the jury in this case,” Conroy said. “There is no need for inference. … By talking about the jury, he puts … the process at risk.”
But the judge did not hold Trump in contempt on Monday for three other alleged violations that targeted two of the state’s key witnesses: former National Enquirer editor David Pecker and former Trump agent Michael Cohen.
The former president told reporters in court on April 22 that Cohen was “not very good in many ways in terms of representation” and a day later derided his former personal lawyer as “a convicted liar” with “no credibility ” in an interview with 6ABC Philadelphia.
Trump’s lawyers have complained that Cohen has repeatedly attacked Trump on social media, arguing that the former president is merely responding to political attacks. Merchan agreed with Trump, ruling that he could not find beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump’s statements “were not protected political speech made in response to political attacks by Michael Cohen.”
As for Pecker, Trump noted on April 25 that the witness — who was expected to testify hours later — is a “great guy.” Prosecutors claimed the comment came with a tacit warning.
“This is a message to Pecker: Be kind,” prosecutor Chris Conroy said when first raising the issue.
But the judge was less convinced, writing on Monday that he was unable to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the statement “constituted a veiled threat.”
“To be sure, this Court understands the People’s argument as it relates to this Evidence and agrees that words and phrases that are often seemingly innocuous or even complimentary may in fact conceal a more nefarious purpose, such as threatening, harassing, or intimidating.” , Merchan wrote. in your decision.
“However, context, facial expressions, emphasis and even cadence are key to reaching such a determination.”
Trump appealed the gag order, arguing that it violates his First Amendment rights, but it remains in effect as of now. His lawyers say he is not “intentionally” violating the order.
In arguing against the order on Thursday, Trump’s lawyers raised comments made by President Biden at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, at which the president jokingly lamented that Trump had recently faced “stormy weather” – a reference to Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress. she paid hush money at the center of the case.
“Judge, last weekend, President Trump’s rival, President Biden, said in a public forum – he talked about this trial and he talked about a witness who will be in this trial,” said Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche. “He mocked President Trump.”
Trump’s lawyer argued that the former president is unable to respond to Biden’s attacks “in the way he would like” because of the gag imposed on his speech.
“He’s running for president,” Blanche said. “He has to be able to talk.”
But Merchan responded that the gag order does not cover comments made by Biden.
“He certainly has permission to respond to something said by President Biden,” Merchan said.
The former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in the New York criminal trial, which centers on a secret deal made with an adult film actress before the 2016 election to hide an alleged affair. Trump pleaded not guilty and denied the case.
Updated at 10:06 a.m. ET
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
