00:54 (IST), May 1
Judge fines Trump $9,000, threatens jail for contempt in hush money trial
The decide overseeing Donald Trump’s legal hush money trial fined the previous U.S. president $9,000 for contempt of courtroom on Tuesday and mentioned he would think about jailing him if he continued to violate a gag order.
In a written order, Justice Juan Merchan mentioned the high quality is probably not sufficient to function a deterrent for the rich businessman-turned-politician and lamented he didn’t have the authority to impose a better penalty.
“Defendant is hereby warned that the Court won’t tolerate willful violations of its lawful orders and that if vital and acceptable beneath the circumstances, it’s going to impose an incarceratory punishment,” Merchan wrote.
Merchan had imposed the gag order to forestall Trump from criticizing witnesses and others concerned within the case.
The decide fined Trump $1,000 for every of 9 on-line statements that he mentioned violated his order to not criticize witnesses or different individuals within the trial. Prosecutors had flagged 10 posts as attainable violations.
The posts, made between April 10 and April 17, included an article calling his former lawyer Michael Cohen a “serial liar.” Cohen is predicted to be a outstanding witness within the trial. (Reuters)