Trump held in contempt for violating gag order in Stormy Daniels hush money case
Former president and presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been found in contempt of court for violating a gag order related to his Stormy Daniels hush money case in New York and has been fined $9,000.
Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from an allegation that he paid porn star Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) $130,000 in 2016 to conceal an alleged sexual encounter while he ran for president.
In March, before the trial began, the court granted prosecutors' motion to limit Trump's ability to make statements about the trial outside of the proceedings, especially on social media.
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New York Judge Juan M. Merchan found Trump guilty of violating the gag order on nine occasions via posts on his social media platform, Truth Social, and his presidential campaign website.
Merchan wrote that while he was "keenly aware of, and protective of" Trump's freedom of speech and expression, he warned that the court will not accept "willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment."
Trump was ordered to pay the $9,000 fine by Friday — $1,000 per infraction — and had to remove seven posts from Truth Social and two from his campaign site by Tuesday afternoon, reports The Associated Press.
Trump posted to his Truth Social account minutes before the 2:15 p.m. deadline for removing the posts that Merchan "has taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH."
"I am the only Presidential Candidate in History to be GAGGED," Trump stated. "This whole 'Trial' is RIGGED, and by taking away my FREEDOM OF SPEECH, THIS HIGHLY CONFLICTED JUDGE IS RIGGING THE PRESIDENTIAL OF 2024 ELECTION. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!"
Trump has since removed the nine posts in question. According to The Hill, most of the nine posts were reposts of other figures and included attacks on witnesses Michael Cohen and Daniels. Another post accused potential jurors of being "liberal activists."
Merchan is expected to weigh in on other alleged gag-order violations by Trump and hear arguments Thursday.
Since leaving office in January 2021, Trump has faced numerous criminal charges in multiple courts, which include his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
In March, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dropped six of the 41 counts against Trump and his allies in a trial centered on whether they had illegally tried to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results.
Late last month, Trump agreed to pay a $175 million bond in a civil fraud case in New York while an appeal continued. He had been found guilty of unlawfully manipulating his net worth to defraud lenders.
