Unless you’ve been living on another planet that mercifully prohibits any news of Donald Trump, you likely know that the ex-president has a habit, and it’s attacking people, places, and things that he believes have wronged him. From former employees to heads of state to long dead senators to Meryl Streep, there is truly nothing and no one Trump won’t go after. Not surprisingly, that includes jurors and potential witnesses in his Manhattan criminal trial, despite the fact that the judge in the case expressly prohibited him from doing so. And now, he’s facing potential jail time for it.
On Tuesday, Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing the hush money trial, fined Trump $9,000 for repeatedly violating his gag order, and threatened to jail the ex-president if he does so again. “The court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders,” Merchan said, adding that he is “keenly aware of, and protective of, defendant’s First Amendment rights,” but will nevertheless jail the former guy “if necessary and appropriate.” Prosecutors had argued last week that Trump had violated his gag order numerous times, including in social media attacks on his former attorney Michael Cohen, adult film star Stormy Daniels, and jurors assigned to the trial. In the case of the jurors, Trump had posted comments from Fox News host Jesse Watters, who’d claimed potential jurors were “undercover liberal activists.” One day later, a juror asked to be removed, saying her friends had been able to identify her as a member; prosecutors called the comments “very troubling.”
Lawyers for Trump claimed Trump’s commentary was not in violation of the gag order but their arguments did not persuade the judge, who told attorney Todd Blanche, “You’ve presented nothing.” After Blanche claimed Trump was trying his hardest to comply, Merchan responded, “You’re losing all credibility with the court.” Prosecutor Christopher Conroy said at last week’s hearing that the ex-president had broken the order “repeatedly and hasn’t stopped,” adding that in addition to his online violations, Trump violated the order “right here in the hallway” outside the courtroom, where he regularly rants about the trial to the press. “He knows what he’s not allowed to do,” Conroy said, “and he does it anyhow.”
As The New York Times notes, “prosecutors have [already] alerted the judge to four new potential violations. Those were not covered by Justice Merchan’s Tuesday order and will be discussed at another hearing on Thursday morning.” It’s not clear how many more violations it would take for Merchan to actually follow through on his threat of jail time, which would obviously be a huge escalation and logistical nightmare for the government. It would also potentially give Trump what he wants, i.e., an opportunity to cast himself as a victim of political persecution and fundraise off of the news. Earlier this month, the ex-president wrote on Truth Social, “If this Partisan Hack wants to put me in the ‘clink’ for speaking the open and obvious TRUTH, I will gladly become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela—It will be my GREAT HONOR. We have to Save our Country from these Political Operatives masquerading as Prosecutors and Judges, and I am willing to sacrifice my Freedom for that worthy cause.”
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