(RepublicanNews.org) – Donald Trump has been hit with a criminal contempt charge in the Stormy Daniels hush money case, with Judge Juan Merchan warning the former president that he could see the inside of a jail cell should he be found to be in violation of his gag order again.
The case centers around accusations that Trump committed election interference in 2016 by covering up $130,000 of hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had an affair with him. Trump has always denied the affair, claiming to have made the payment to avoid damage to his reputation.
Throughout the court case, Trump has been subject to a gag order designed to stop him from making public comments or threats about any witnesses, including Daniels herself. He is also forbidden from commenting on jurors, court staff, attorneys, and relatives of court staff or the Manhattan District Attorney. The strict rule was imposed by Judge Merchan because he argued that Trump had a history of making “threatening” and “denigrating” comments about people working in the justice system.
On Tuesday, April 30th, Judge Merchan began court proceedings by issuing a $9000 fine to Trump for breaking the gag order after he made statements on his social media site, Truth Social, and via his campaign, about people involved in the trial, including Stormy Daniels and Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen. Merchan said that the $9000 fine included a $1000 fine for each violation and added that a future punishment could involve jail time as he did not believe that a fine would be enough to deter Trump from breaking the order again.
Trump deleted the posts in question, as demanded by the judge, but later called the ruling “unconstitutional” and claimed that the case was rigged against him, referring to it as a “show trial” when speaking to reporters on his way into court on May 2nd.
Copyright 2024, RepublicanNews.org
