Judge fines Donald Trump $9,000 for violating gag order in criminal trial and threatens with imprisonment

New York judge Juan Merchan has sentenced Donald Trump to a fine of 9,000 dollars (8,400 euros) because the American presidential candidate violated his silence order nine times in the criminal trial surrounding the payment of hush money to former porn actress Stormy Daniels. The judge also threatened to jail Trump if he violated the gag order again.

The judge in New York also ordered Trump to remove seven “offensive messages” from his page on Truth Social, the social network of which he is the founder. He must also remove two “offensive messages” from his campaign website. The court said it “will not tolerate continued deliberate violations of its lawful orders” and will “impose a prison sentence if necessary,” it said.

Donald Trump, who must be present in the courtroom during the trial, did not react when the judge read his decision.

Merchan had imposed a temporary gag order on Trump in late March to prevent the ex-president from making public statements about witnesses in the hush money case, jurors, members of the court and their families, and attorneys other than Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg . Previous statements Trump made about those people were “threatening, inflammatory and derogatory” and pose a risk to the administration of justice, Judge Juan Merchan said on Tuesday.

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