Donald Trump at Manhattan criminal courtJustin Lane/Pool Photo/AP
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial fined the former president $9,000 on Tuesday for violating a gag order—and he warned Trump that any further violations might result in jail time.
Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for his role in a 2016 scheme to cover up an alleged extra-marital affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels. (Trump denies any affair.) As in other recent legal proceedings involving Trump, the judge in the New York case, Juan Merchan, issued a gag order prior to the trial. That order was relatively narrow, prohibiting the former president from attacking or denigrating jurors, witnesses, court employees, prosecutors or their families. Criticism specifically of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is bringing the charges, as well as of Merchan himself, was not prohibited by the order.
Last week, prosecutors said Trump had already violated the gag order 10 times in just the opening days of the trial and asked for a $1,000 fine for each instance. Merchan, in his ruling, found that Trump had indeed violated the order in nine instances—in one, in which Trump reposted someone else’s statements on his Truth Social platform, Merchan said it wasn’t clear that it was Trump’s own statement.
The fine of $9,000 is a relatively paltry sum, and not just because of Trump’s wealth. In the civil fraud trial last fall in which Trump was found liable for more than $450 million, Trump was fined $15,000 for two violations of a similar gag order. Merchan, in his ruling, acknowledged that Tuesday’s contempt fine might not be large enough to deter Trump from future violations, but he noted that it was the maximum amount allowed by law.
“While $1,000 may suffice in most instances to protect the dignity of the judicial system, to compel respect for its mandates and to punish the offender for disobeying a court order, it unfortunately will not achieve the desired result in those instances where the contemnor can easily afford such a fine,” Merchan wrote, adding that if it was up to him, he could image a fine of as much as $150,000 being more appropriate.
But, Merchan wrote, since he can’t level that kind of fine, he may have to contemplate something more serious that money.
“Because this Court is not cloaked with such discretion, it must therefore consider whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment,” Merchan wrote.
Merchan will hold a hearing on Thursday to consider three additional possible violations of the gag order. To fully abide by Merchan’s order today, Trump must delete seven posts from Truth Social and two posts from his campaign website by 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday. He must also pay the $9,000 fine by Friday.
