Donald Trump has been ordered to pay a $9,000 fine for repeated breaches of a court order barring him from disparaging jurors and witnesses at his New York hush money trial.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan at the start of trial Tuesday morning issued the fine to Trump, citing his multiple violations of a gag order Merchan previously put into effect.
On Thursday morning, there will be a hearing on the issue of gag order breaches to determine if the real estate tycoon should be fined even more.
Prior to issuing the fine, Merchan told Trump that he can attend his son Barron’s graduation on May 17.
The former president had been accused of violating the order 11 times by the prosecution for talking about those associated with the trial.
His lawyers had pushed back, claiming the things Trump said were in defense of political attacks made against him.
Merchan has ruled the former president, 77, can’t disparage jurors or witnesses in the criminal case — or go after family of court staff, including his own relatives and those of District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump is still allowed to rip Bragg or Judge Merchan as much as he’d like.
Trump has repeatedly slammed expected trial witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels in public comments and social media posts in the past few days.
Cohen has also made comments about Trump on X, but is not subject to the court’s gag order, so will not face reprimand.
Trump also — in what prosecutors called his most “disturbing post” — reposted a quote from a Fox News host which said “they are catching undercover liberal activists lying to the judge” in order to get on the jury.
The court also ordered Trump to remove eight posts from Truth Social and two from his campaign website which it ruled take aim at the jury and at Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.
The jury is meant to be anonymous, but several prospective panelists during jury selection said they were worried about their identities being exposed.
The 12 jurors and six alternates come from various backgrounds and have various jobs, but all swore under oath they are not involved in any political groups which are for or against Trump.
Courts can technically throw defendants in jail for up to 30 days for gag order breaches, but prosecutors did not ask to jail Trump.
However, they did ask the judge to warn him future gag order breaches could lead to jail time.
Trump has claimed that the gag order is “unfair” and has claimed the court is “taking away my constitutional rights to speak.”
He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of felony falsifying business records.
The charges are for allegedly covering up a payment to Daniels — which prosecutors say was part of an illegal conspiracy alongside the National Enquirer magazine to hide damaging stories from voters before the 2016 presidential election.
With Post wires
