New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan determined Tuesday that Donald Trump violated the terms of a gag order intended to prevent him from lobbing public attacks on people involved in his criminal hush money trial, warning the former president he could face jail time if he continues to ignore the order.
Trump “is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” Merchan wrote in his ruling.
Merchan said the former president would be fined a total of $9,000, as the prosecution met the burden of proof for nine of the 10 incidents that the they alleged had violated the directive. Trump would need to make that payment by Friday, the ruling states.
Merchan said while the fine in this case is not sufficient to achieve its purpose given the wealth of the defendant, he does not have the discretion to increase the financial penalty, requiring him to “consider whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment.”
“While $1,000 may suffice in most instances to protect the dignity of the judicial system, to compel respect for its mandates and to punish the offender for disobeying a court order, it unfortunately will not achieve the desired result in those instances where the contemnor can easily afford such a fine,” Merchan wrote.
Prosecutors argued at a hearing with the judge that Trump violated the order 10 times through derisive social media posts and posts to his official campaign website, putting witnesses in the case at risk of feeling intimidated.
“What happened here is precisely what the order was designed to prevent and the defendant doesn’t care,” prosecuting attorney Christopher Conroy said during the hearing last Tuesday.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-judge-gag-order-ruling_n_6627b21de4b096c7bac6280a 