Topline
Former President Donald Trump could be fined thousands of dollars for violating a gag order against him in his ongoing criminal trial, as Judge Juan Merchan suggested at a testy hearing Tuesday he was disinclined to side with the ex-president’s attorney Todd Blanche and his arguments—and attacked the lawyer’s credibility.
Key Facts
Judge Juan Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump in March that bars him from making public statements about potential witnesses, jurors, counsel and other parties involved with the case that could interfere with the proceedings, expanding the order to also include family members of the court and counsel after Trump started attacking the judge’s daughter on social media.
The judge held a hearing Tuesday over whether Trump should be held in contempt for violating the order, after prosecutors alleged he violated it 10 times through public statements and social media posts, including reposting other people’s comments, that concerned potential witnesses and jurors.
Prosecutors argued Trump had repeatedly violated the order with “deliberation and willfulness”—noting he even edited a quote from Fox News about potential jurors in the case—and claimed Trump’s attacks on potential witnesses in the case are “all part of [his] plan for this trial,” as quoted by Politico.
Blanche claimed his client did not violate the gag order and was defending himself against political attacks from ex-attorney Michael Cohen and adult film star Stormy Daniels, which Blanche claimed are distinct from the public statements that the gag order bars.
Blanche also claimed that reposting other comments on social media does not violate the order—though when Merchan asked the lawyer what case law he had to back that assertion up, Blanche said he had no previous cases to support his argument, and it was instead based on “common sense.”
Merchan was short with Blanche throughout the hearing, multiple outlets report, suggesting he didn’t agree with the Trump lawyer’s arguments—including telling Blanche he had “presented nothing” to back up his argument and responding, “I’m asking the questions, OK?” after the attorney questioned why the timing of Trump’s posts mattered to the judge.
Crucial Quote
“You’re losing all credibility with the court,” Merchan told Blanche Tuesday after the lawyer claimed Trump was trying to comply with the gag order, as quoted by The New York Times.
What To Watch For
It’s unclear when Merchan will rule on whether Trump violated the gag order. Under New York law, criminal contempt by being “wilful[ly]
disobedien[t]” to a court’s “lawful mandate” is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 per offense, up to 30 days in prison, or both. Prosecutors have only asked for Trump to be fined the maximum penalty of $1,000 for each alleged gag order violation, however—even as they noted Trump “seems to be angling for” imprisonment—though they do want Merchan to warn Trump that he could be locked up for future violations.
Chief Critic
Trump has decried the gag order against him and has shown little regard for it, even saying before the trial began that it would be his “great honor” to go to jail for violating the order. The ex-president continued to speak out against potential witnesses in the case even less than a day before Tuesday’s hearing, blasting Cohen in comments to reporters after the trial on Monday. “When are they going to look at all the lies that Cohen did in the last trial?” Trump said, referring to comments Cohen made when testifying at the recent civil fraud trial against Trump and his company. The ex-president also lashed out against Merchan immediately after the gag order hearing on Tuesday, posting on Truth Social that the “HIGHLY CONFLICTED” judge “HAS TAKEN AWAY MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH.”
Surprising Fact
The New York Times reported Tuesday that federal, city and state officials met last week to discuss the logistics of Trump being temporarily thrown in prison for criminal contempt, given the real possibility of that happening if he violates the gag order. Officials reportedly determined Trump would have to be kept separate from other inmates and would still receive around-the-clock Secret Service coverage, with corrections officials noting that several New York prisons have empty wings or buildings that could be used to accommodate the former president. Officials have not yet determined the logistics if Trump were to be sentenced to lengthier prison time if he’s convicted of the felony charges against him, the Times noted.
Key Background
Trump has been indicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, stemming from reimbursement payments he made to Cohen after the lawyer paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 before the 2016 election to cover up her alleged affair with Trump. While in the White House, Trump reimbursed Cohen through a series of payments made throughout 2017, which prosecutors allege were paid through the Trump Organization and falsely labeled as legal payments. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and his lawyers have maintained the reimbursement checks were personal expenses that were not business payments, and Trump did not have anything to do with documents that labeled them as legal payments. The hush money case is the third case against Trump in which a gag order has been imposed on him, as the ex-president has routinely attacked prosecutors, judges and others involved in the cases against him. Gag orders have previously been imposed in the civil fraud case against Trump and his company—which resulted in him being fined $15,000 for two violations of it—and his federal criminal case for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
