Hush money case: Donald Trump fined USD 9,000 for violating gag order
Apr 30, 2024
New York [US], April 30 : Former US President Donald Trump was held in contempt of court Tuesday and fined USD 9,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order that barred him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to his New York hush-money case, CNN reported.
Judge Juan Merchan has fined Donald Trump for repeatedly violating the gag order nine times for criticizing expected trial witnesses in posts on social media and his campaign page. "Trump must pay the USD 9,000 fine by the end of the week," the court orders Trump.
Additionally, the court ordered Trump to remove the seven "offending posts" from Truth Social and the two "offending posts" from his campaign website by 2:15 pm (local time), as per CNN.
Merchan also threatened Trump "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 incarceration punishment." Trump didn't react to the Merchan judgement.
According to CNN, prosecutors alleged Merchan held Trump in contempt for breaching the gag order, pointing to 10 social media posts made before and during the trial.
These posts allegedly violated the judge's restrictions prohibiting Trump from commenting on witnesses and jurors. Prosecutors also sought the removal of the posts.
Trump's remarks about Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, and the makeup of the jury pool were highlighted by the prosecution.
The judge made the ruling following a contentious hearing last week, marked by heated exchanges between him and Trump's defence attorney, Todd Blanche.
Additionally, the Prosecutors pointed out four comments that Trump has made since last week's hearing, including about Cohen and former AMI chief David Pecker, who testified last week. Merchan has scheduled another hearing on Thursday to address those comments.
USD 1,000 per violation is the maximum allowed by New York State law.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records related to a hush-money deal with an adult film actress made ahead of the 2016 election, The Hill reported. He has pleaded not guilty.
According to prosecutors formulation, Donald Trump skirted campaign finance laws by funnelling a payment of USD 130,000 to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels through Michael Cohen, his attorney and then falsely claiming that the money used to repay Cohen was for legal work.
