6 months ago
21
NEW YORK: The judge in Donald
Trump
's criminal trial fined him $1,000 and held him in
contempt
of court for a 10th time on Monday for violating a gag order and warned that further violations could land the former prez in
jail
.
Justice Juan Merchan said the nine $1,000 fines he had imposed so far did not seem to be deterring the wealthy business mogul from violating the order, which bars him from speaking publicly about jurors and witnesses in the first criminal trial of a former US prez.
"I do not want to impose a jail sanction and have done everything I can to avoid doing so. But I will if necessary," Merchan said.
Imprisonment would be an unprecedented step in the historic trial, which stems from a hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 election. After Merchan's ruling, jurors saw bank records and heard testimony from a former Trump employee that could bolster prosecutors' case that Trump falsified business records to cover up the hush money payment.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.
Merchan imposed the 10th
fine
for an April 22 interview in which the former prez said: "That jury was picked so fast - 95% Democrats. The area's mostly all Democrat."
