Trump threatened with jail over gag order violations: ‘$1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent’
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money trial will consider putting the former president in jail if he continues to violate a gag order intended to protect witnesses, jurors, court staff and their families.
New York Justice Juan Merchan warned Mr Trump on Monday that jail remains “truly a last resort” that would disrupt the proceedings, court staff and law enforcement.
“The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me,” the judge said to Mr Trump inside a criminal courtroom in Manhattan on Monday.
“But at the end of the day I have a job to do, and part of that job is to protect the dignity of the justice system,” he said. “Your continued violations … threaten to interfere with the administration of justice, and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law.”
He was found in contempt of court and fined $1,000 for his comments about the jury, on the heels of last week’s contempt ruling and a $9,000 fine for nine other violations of the protective order.
Manhattan prosecutors accused Mr Trump for four other violations, including comments made during an interview with far-right network Real America’s Voice.
During that interview, Mr Trump said the jury “was picked so fast – 95 per cent Democrats”.
“The area’s mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a – just a purely Democrat area. It’s a very unfair situation that I can tell you,” he said.
He made those comments after the jury was selected – and after the judge admonished Mr Trump in court for “audibly” commenting about a juror and “gesticulating” towards her.
“I won’t tolerate it. I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom,” the judge said on 16 April. “I want to make that crystal clear.”
Last week, Judge Merchan grew increasingly impatient with Mr Trump’s lawyer, cutting them off at one point while attorney Todd Blanche claimed that the trial is “political persecution” and a “political trial” in a “jurisdiction” that is politically biased against the former president, Judge Merchan cut him off.
“Did he violate the gag order? That’s what I want to know,” Judge Merchan said. “He spoke about the jury, right? And he said the jury was 95 per cent Democrats and the jury had been rushed through, and the implication that this was not a fair jury?”
In a written order, the judge noted that because Mr Trump made his comments prior to the decision on 30 April, he will only face a monetary fine.
“However, because this is now the [10th] time that this Court has found Defendant in criminal contempt, spanning three separate motions, it is apparent that monetary fines have not, and will not, suffice to deter Defendant from violating this Court’s lawful orders,” he wrote.
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