The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan threatened to jail the former president for repeated violations of a very restrictive gag order that does not apply to many of the witnesses in the case.
On Monday, Judge Juan Merchan, a known donor to Democratic candidates, cited new examples of Trump violating the order after he fined the 45th president $9,000 last week for similar violations. “Merchan warned Trump that continued violations of the order could result in incarceration — a threat he made again on Monday after fining him the maximum of $1,000 for the most recent violation,” NBC News reported.
“It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent,” Merchan said during early proceedings on Monday.
“The last thing I want to do is to put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well. There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for you,” he continued, adding that taking that step would be “disruptive to the proceedings.”
