Donald Trump fined $9,000 for violating gag order in hush money case

TFD – Dive into the recent ruling where New York Judge Juan Merchan fined Donald Trump for violating the gag order in the hush money trial. Understand the details of the charges and consequences.

New York Judge Juan Merchan has fined former President Donald Trump for repeatedly violating the gag order in the hush money trial.

By 2:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Trump must also take down the two “offending posts” from his campaign website and the seven “offending posts” from Truth Social.

Merchan determined that Trump had broken the gag order nine times by disparaging prospective trial witnesses in remarks made on his campaign page and social media. Trump has until the end of the week to pay the $9,000 charge.

In his ruling, Merchan stated, “THEREFORE, Defendant 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 also threatened to imprison Trump if he willfully violated the gag order once more.

Trump remained silent throughout the judge’s reading of his ruling in court.

Says the judge, reposts are endorsements

Reposting other people’s statements does not breach the gag order, according to Trump’s defense team, and the posts are free political speech in reaction to attacks, they claimed during last week’s hearing on violations of the gag order.

Merchan rejected both arguments in his contempt ruling Tuesday.

Initially, he discovered that in this instance, reposts constitute endorsements.

There is no question in my mind that the defendant’s intention and goal in reposting is to let his audience know that he supports and takes ownership of the statement that has been posted,” Merchan wrote.

Second, Merchan conceded that Trump is able to reply to political criticism despite the gag order, but he insisted that critical remarks about important witnesses were prohibited.

“It would be an exception that swallowed the rule to permit such attacks upon protected witnesses with broad claims that they are all reactions to ‘political attacks.'” There is no such exception in the Expanded Order,” he stated.

Citing ten social media posts from before and during the trial in which the district attorney’s office accused Trump of disobeying the judge’s orders prohibiting him from making comments about witnesses and jurors, prosecutors had asked Merchan to find Trump guilty of contempt for breaking the gag order. They also desire the removal of the posts.

The statements made by Trump regarding Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen, and the jury’s composition were mentioned by the prosecution.

Following a contentious meeting last week between himself and Todd Blanche, Trump’s defense lawyer, the judge rendered his decision.

Following the hearing last week, four more remarks made by Trump—including ones regarding Cohen and former AMI CEO David Pecker, who gave a testimony last week—were highlighted by the prosecution. To answer those remarks, Merchan has scheduled a second hearing for this Thursday.

The maximum authorized by New York State law is $1,000 per violation.

In this instance, Trump is facing his first penalty for breaking the gag order.

More information has been added to this story.