Will he face jail time for these violations?
Former President Trump has been fined once again for violating his gag order — and now the judge overseeing his criminal hush money trial warns that he could face jail time if these violations continue.
In his written order, Judge Juan Merchan said Trump’s latest comments about the political makeup of the jury “not only called into question the integrity, and therefore the legitimacy of these proceedings but again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones.”
This marks the 10th time Trump has violated a gag order, and each offense carries a $1,000 fine. The former president has faced similar penalties in his other ongoing cases: For instance, he was fined $15,000 for violating a gag order in his civil business fraud trial in New York last year.
As these start to pile up, here’s a brief breakdown of some of Trump’s gag order violations and whether he’ll likely face jail time for them.
Why does Trump have a gag order?
Merchan granted the prosecution’s request for a gag order in March before Trump’s criminal trial began, citing the former president’s history of “threatening, inflammatory, denigrating” remarks about people involved in his legal cases.
The gag order bars Trump from making public comments about jurors, lawyers, potential witnesses, court staff, and their families. Merchan then expanded it a month later to include family members of those involved in the case. The ruling came after Trump accused the judge of being corrupt and went after his daughter, who works for a political consulting firm.
But it doesn’t bar him from attacking the judge or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Meanwhile, Trump has blasted the restrictions, asserting they violate his First Amendment rights to respond to political attacks as he campaigns for reelection. Despite his appeals, the gag order still stands.
Trump’s latest gag order violation
Merchan found Trump violated his gag order during an interview with conservative channel Real America’s Voice on April 22, when Trump suggested he can’t get a fair trial in New York.
“That jury was picked so fast — 95 percent Democrats,” Trump told the network. “The area’s mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a — just a purely Democrat area. It’s a very unfair situation, that I can tell you.”
While Manhattan overwhelmingly voted for President Biden in the 2020 election, the exact political beliefs and voting behaviors of the jurors involved in the case remain a mystery. What we do know is that Trump’s lawyers have already removed those who have shown any evidence of bias against the former president.
What did Trump say in his other violations?
Last week, Merchan ruled that Trump must remove seven posts from his Truth Social account, and two from his campaign website, both of which he did. This includes a New York Post op-ed that referred to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen as a “serial perjurer,” which Trump reshared five times.
In two posts, Trump went after Stormy Daniels, the adult film star at the center of the case who received the $130,000 hush payment. In one post, he referred to both Daniels and Cohen as “sleaze bags,” though the judge later determined that this didn’t ultimately violate the gag order.
The judge also found the former president violated the gag order when he quoted Fox News host Jesse Watters, who said, “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”
Will he face jail time for these offenses?
Merchan warned Monday that the former president could face jail “if necessary” for further violations. The judge didn’t specify which jail exactly, though some experts say it’s possible he could wind up in the notorious prison on Riker’s Island. Others think he could instead be placed under house arrest.
But the judge added that this move would be a last resort because it would disrupt ongoing legal proceedings during an already tense trial. After all, the stakes in Merchan’s courtroom are much higher: Trump already faces 34 felony counts for falsifying business records, and he could face up to four years in prison if he’s convicted for those charges alone.
“The last thing I want to do is put you in jail,” he said. “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 me. To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings.”
