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The judge presiding over former President Trump’s unprecedented criminal trial will hold a hearing Thursday morning to consider the remaining alleged gag order violations after fining the 2024 presumptive Republican nominee $9,000 and threatening him with jail time.
Trump’s criminal trial is set to resume at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Court does not meet on Wednesdays.
JUDGE FINES TRUMP THOUSANDS OVER VIOLATING GAG ORDER, WARNS ‘INCARCERATORY PUNISHMENT’ COULD BE NEXT
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and prosecutors from his office alleged the former president violated the gag order that Judge Juan Merchan imposed upon him 14 times.
Former President Trump greets attendees at a Super Tuesday election night watch party at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 5, 2024. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The gag order bans Trump from speaking publicly about witnesses, court staff and their families.
Merchan on Tuesday found that Trump violated the order on nine separate occasions, with each violation resulting in a $1,000 fine.
The judge detailed in the order that if Trump carries out “continued willful violations” of the gag order, he could face “incarceratory punishment” if “necessary and appropriate.”
During a hearing on the gag order last week, Merchan said the Trump legal team was “losing all credibility” while defending the 45th president’s comments on social media that violated the order.
“I’ve asked you eight or nine times, ‘Show me the exact post that he was responding to,’ and you haven’t been able to do that once,” Merchan told the Trump team last week.
NY V TRUMP CRIMINAL TRIAL BEGINS ITS 3RD WEEK AS FORMER PRESIDENT ACCUSED OF GAG ORDER VIOLATIONS
The defense team argued in the hearing that Trump was responding to attacks made against him when he posted comments that allegedly violated the order.
Trump, in response to the ruling, said on social media that Merchan has “taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH.”
