Judge Hits Trump With Fines, Threatens Jail Time Over Gag Order; Trump Responds to Gag Order Fine, Says Judge Is ‘Rigging’ 2024 Election
By Daily Wire. The New York judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush-money trial fined the former president $9,000 and threatened him with jail time for social media posts the judge said violated a court-imposed gag order.
Judge Juan Merchan wrote in an order on Tuesday that Trump had violated a gag order against speaking out about several people involved in the trial nine times. Merchan fined the former president $1,000 for each violation and ordered him to delete the posts in question from Truth Social and Trump’s campaign website.
The judge warned Trump that additional violations of the gag order could result in jail time for the former president. Merchan complained that he is not legally allowed to fine Trump more than $1,000 for each violation, arguing that heftier fines, potentially as large as $150,000, would be more likely to produce the desired effect.
“Criminal contempt is punishable by a fine not exceeding $ 1,000, by jail not exceeding 30 days or by both in the discretion of the court, for each violation of a court order. … However, the Judiciary Law does not vest the Court with authority to craft an appropriate punishment when a $1,000 fine will not achieve the intended purpose,” Merchan wrote. (Read more from “Judge Hits Trump With Fines, Threatens Jail Time Over Gag Order” HERE)
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Trump Responds to Gag Order Fine, Says Judge Is ‘Rigging’ 2024 Election
By Daily Wire. Former President Donald Trump said Judge Juan Merchan is “rigging” the 2024 presidential election after the judge slapped Trump with a $9,000 fine and threatened to jail him for social media posts that violated his gag order in the New York hush-money trial.
Merchan wrote in an order on Tuesday that Trump had violated his gag order nine times, fining him $1,000 for each offense. The former president is prohibited from commenting on potential witnesses, jurors, court staff, attorneys, and members of the judge’s family. Prosecutors urged Merchan to take action on Trump for violating the gag order, pointing to posts he made on his social media site Truth Social or his campaign website about Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, and the jury pool.
“This Judge has taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday afternoon. “I am the only Presidential Candidate in History to be GAGGED. This whole ‘Trial’ is RIGGED, and by taking away my FREEDOM OF SPEECH, THIS HIGHLY CONFLICTED JUDGE IS RIGGING THE PRESIDENTIAL OF 2024 ELECTION. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!”
In his order, Merchan complained that he could not legally fine Trump more than $1,000 for each violation, writing, “In some cases that might be a $2,500 fine, in other cases it might be a fine of $150,000.” (Read more from “Trump Responds to Gag Order Fine, Says Judge Is ‘Rigging’ 2024 Election” HERE)
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr
