Judge Juan Merchan found Donald Trump in contempt on Tuesday for nine gag order violations in his New York criminal case. The state judge imposed the maximum fine of $1,000 per violation and warned Trump of possible prison time for greater defiance.
In imposing the punishment, such as it was, even Merchan recognized his relative weakness against this wealthy defendant. But it was still a historic decision against the former president and presumptive presidential candidate of the Republican Party.
However, this epic scenario creates a possibly anticlimactic outcome of the latest gag order hearing, scheduled for Thursday morning about additional alleged violations. The reason is that even if Merchan found more violations, this can only lead to more low-level fines. The alleged violations in question occurred before Merchan issued your decision Tuesday.
Therefore, if the judge’s prison warning in that ruling was only intended to apply to violations beginning after that, then one might think that fines are the maximum that could result from Thursday’s hearing. The law gives judges the option of fines of up to $1,000 or a maximum of 30 days in jail (or both) for criminal contempt violations.
Of course Trump was clearly in advance notice Before Tuesday, such an arrest was a possibility for violating the court order. But even so, Merchan may not consider the practical option on Thursday.
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This article was originally published in MSNBC.com
