Former President Donald Trump has been held in criminal contempt by the judge presiding over his hush money trial in relation to several posts shared on his Truth Social account, NBC News reports.
Judge Juan Merchan ruled that Trump made nine violations of his gag order prohibiting him from "making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding," and "public statements about any prospective juror or any juror," which includes a fine of $1,000 for each instance. Merchan had previously asserted that Trump violated the gag order on April 23, which one of his attorneys argued he was exercising caution to comply with, to which Merchan replied made the attorney lose "all credibility."
Prosecutors accused Trump of violating the April 1 order at least 10 times, which included referring to expected witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels as "sleaze bags," as well as taking an apparent quote from FOX News personality Jesse Watters that stated, “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury" on his Truth Social account. The district attorney sought the maximum $1,000 fine for each violation, as well as an order for Trump to delete the posts from his account.
Prosecutors also asked Merchan to warn Trump of any future violations resulting in both potential jail time and additional fines.