Trump hit with 10th gag violation and a warning: next time, jail
Judge Juan Merchan hit Trump with his 10th gag order violation Monday, along with a warning of jail.
Merely fining Trump $1,000 per violation has not been a sufficient deterrent, the judge said.
"Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction," he said.
Next time, it could be jail.
The judge in Donald Trump's New York hush-money trial on Monday found the former president has violated his gag order a tenth time — and warned that another violation could put him in jail.
"It appears the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent," state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan told Trump, addressing him directly as "Mr. Trump" in the 15th-floor downtown Manhattan courtroom.
"Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction, if recommended" by prosecutors, the judge warned.
"Mr. Trump, it's important to understand that the last thing I want to do is put you in jail," Merchan added. "You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next president as well."
Merchan called incarceration "a last resort for me."
"To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings, which I imagine you want to end as quickly as possible," the judge told the former president.
"I also worry about the people who would have to execute that sanction — the court officers, the correction officers, the Secret Service detail, among others," he said.
"I worry about them and about what would go into executing such a sanction," he said.
"The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me," the judge said.
"But at the end of the day, I have a job to do," Merchan said.
"And part of that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system and compel respect. Your continued violations of this court's lawful order threatens to interfere with the administration of justice," he said.
Trump's "constant attacks" on jurors and witnesses "constitute a direct attack on the rule of law," the judge added. "I cannot allow that to continue."
Merchan fined Trump $1,000 — the maximum fine allowed — bringing the total amount Trump has now been fined for breaching the order to $10,000. Last week, the former president was fined $9,000 for violating his gag order nine previous times.
"So as much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction, and I have tried everything to avoid doing so, I want you to know that I will, if necessary and appropriate," Merchan said.
Trump appeared unfazed in court as Merchan, in a firm but calm voice, threatened him with jail. The former president remained slouched in his cushioned chair as the judge gave the warning.
The fine and contempt finding was in response to an April 22 phone interview Trump did with the right-wing network "Real America's Voice."
During the 21 minute interview, Trump referred to the hush-money jury.
"But this judge, uh, said that I can't get away from the trial. You know he's rushing the trial like crazy. Nobody's ever seen a thing go like this. The jury was picked so fast — 95% democrats," Trump said, in violation of his gag order.
"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."
In Merchan's written order, the judge repeated much of what he'd said on the bench: "Because this is now the tenth 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."
"THEREFORE, Defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration," Merchan's order read.
The judge's warning came first thing Monday morning, before the start of the third week of testimony in the GOP frontrunner's ongoing criminal trial on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office allege Trump lied on documents in order to cover up an illegal $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The payment, delivered by Trump's ex-personal attorney and former fixer Michael Cohen, was wired to Daniels 11 days before the 2016 presidential election to buy her silence over a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, according to prosecutors and records shown as evidence in the trial.
Trump has repeatedly denied having an affair with Daniels, a key witness in the case.
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