A judge determining that former President Trump had breached a prohibition order for the tenth time issued the most severe warning to date that further infractions could result in incarceration.
Trump was ordered to pay $1,000 on Monday by Judge Juan Merchan for his verbal assaults on jurors during his historic criminal trial.
“Defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration,” Merchan announced.
This ruling came mere days after the judge ruled on an earlier series of gag order violations.
However, the judge granted Trump a partial victory, determining that the prosecution failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump, in three additional statements, violated his gag order.
Trump is prohibited by the gag order from insulting court personnel, witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, or the judge’s family. It does not prohibit him from launching personal attacks against the judge or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
As the presumed Republican nominee prepares to stand trial on criminal charges, Trump has publicly denounced the restrictions, asserting that they infringe upon his First Amendment rights to respond to political assaults.
The judge has determined that Trump violated the prohibition order ten times in total, and he is obligated to pay $1,000 for each infraction.
In an effort to “minimize disruptions” to the trial, prosecutors had indicated they were not yet seeking jail time. However, as he delivered his decision, the judge made it plain that fines are ineffective.
In contrast to the previous set of infractions, which involved nine posts published via jury selection on Truth Social and Trump’s campaign website, the most recent round of violations pertained to the former president’s post-testimony remarks.
Prosecutors focused on remarks made by Trump during two media interviews, a campaign stop, and the courthouse hallway.
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