Judge holds Trump in contempt for violating gag order in hush money trial

Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office accused Trump of violating the gag order numerous times since it went into effect.

The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money case on Tuesday held the former president in criminal contempt over a series of posts on Truth Social that he said violated a gag order barring any attacks on jurors and witnesses.

Judge Juan Merchan ruled Trump in contempt for nine violations of his gag order, with a fine of $1,000 for each instance. The order prohibits the former president from “making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding,” and “public statements about any prospective juror or any juror.”

Merchan had indicated on April 23 that he was not impressed by the arguments from the defense, telling one of Trump’s attorneys that he was “losing all credibility” when he suggested that Trump was exercising caution to comply with the gag order.

grue,

Put. Him. In. A. Holding. Cell.

BradleyUffner,

Make him pick up litter along the highway.

Dreizehn,
Dreizehn avatar

…with a live video feed.

Grobmobularb,

In a hole preferably

Sterile_Technique,
@Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world avatar

Fill. The. Holding. Cell. With. Wasps.

VaultBoyNewVegas,

50,000 to 60,000.

Regrettable_incident,
@Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world avatar

What about just one really big wasp?

danc4498,

50,000 wasp sized Trumps or 1 Trump sized wasp?

mPony,

Wasps

make it “TVs tuned to MSNBC”

harrys_balzac,

Meidas Touch YT channel

TheMightyCanuck,
@TheMightyCanuck@sh.itjust.works avatar

Then. Set. It. All. On. Fire.

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

And. Make. It. Televised.

corsicanguppy,

Oh shit. I’d PPV the hell out of that.

Pan_Ziemniak,

Honestly?

The wasps deserve better.

Kedly,

Nah man, fuck wasps. Trump and Wasps deserve each other, and I mean both the Creature and the Christian

Pan_Ziemniak,

Wasps are living things. They likely experience pain and distress; i could never wish those on anything capable of feeling them. Señor racismo, on the other hand… maybe we could compromise and seal him in with some coronavirus to study its mutations?

Kedly,

Wasps are one of the more cruel and fucked up insects out there, they’d probably get along fine with Cheeto Benito

Pan_Ziemniak,

Wasps are one of the more cruel and fucked up insects out there

So still two classes of humanity above dorito Mussolini, then?

Kedly,

Fair enough I guess xD

TokenBoomer,

Quick, everyone purchase the Ultimate Beach Set to help the god emperor out. /s

darkpanda,

Eighty five American dollars for that? To what amounts to probably $3 in wholesale crap from a container drop?

Treczoks,

…for small change. This is not going to stop anything. It just gave his methods a (cheap) price tag.

WhatAmLemmy, (edited )

deleted_by_moderator

    •
    JackiesFridge,
    @JackiesFridge@lemmy.world avatar

    Stop projecting

    FenrirIII,
    @FenrirIII@lemmy.world avatar

    It has to be reasonable and in line with practice. Trump is both like and unlike everyone else that’s gone through that courtroom. You have to treat him with kid gloves, let him keep pulling on the rope, then hang him with FAFO consequences fully justified and above reproach.

    WoahWoah,

    1K??? AHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHHHAAHAAAA

    OMG this is hilarious. I officially now have more contempt for this judge than I do for Trump. And that’s really saying something.

    Subverb,

    It’s the maximum penalty, and the judge acknowledged that he had no control over it and that he wished it scaled with the contemnor’s ability to pay.

    xor,

    That’s the maximum non-custodial sentence

    BorgDrone,

    So? Lock him up.

    Furbag,

    There is a possibility that he might be despite the monetary punishment. Trump just committed Criminal Contempt and has thereby violated his pre-trial release conditions on nearly all of his other trials. It’s within their rights now to lock him up until the other trials commence and conclude.

    I’m tempering my expectations here, because those judges would still have to hold a hearing to give Trump’s legal team a chance to argue that he did not violate his per-release agreement. Nevertheless, it’s on the table now, all that remains is finding a judge with enough of a spine to uphold the rule of law equally.

    Him being put on notice in this specific trial is a good thing. The next step after this is a jail cell if he keeps running his mouth. Hopefully that’ll mean this entire process will be a lot quieter now with fewer outbursts and interruptions. Although. a lot of pundits are speculating that Trump will start toeing the line now so that he only has one infraction of his gag order at a time to intentionally get thrown in jail so he can turn it into a political stunt and garner sympathy. It’s not clear if he’ll get the maximum 30 days or not, but it doesn’t really matter, he’ll try and spend as little time in jail as possible, but make it seem like he is a victim of political persecution.

    Olgratin_Magmatoe,

    So in other words, the fine needs to be a percentage of wealth/income, not a flat rate.

    anon_8675309,

    One way to look at it. Another is that Trump is not being treated any different than someone else when it comes to the fine. If he keeps doing it and the judge locks him up, everyone knows the judge was fair.

    WoahWoah,

    Go do the same shit and see what happens to you.

    Sam_Bass,

    Bitty balls are better than no balls i guess

    Dkarma,

    Not hush money. Election interference.

    rusticus,

    $1000 fine per incident? Can Trump wipe his diapers with a thousand dollar bill before giving it to the court? When will this asshat have real accountability?

    Natanael,

    Statutory maximum, he can’t legally start with worse. He threatened jail for future contempt. And I hope he holds that promise!

    samus12345,
    @samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

    He won’t.

    PriorityMotif,
    @PriorityMotif@lemmy.world avatar

    Even if they not going to jail him they should at least sequester him with no outside contact.

    SpaceNoodle,

    FOR REALS this time, if you do it AGAIN, there will be consequences we’ll tell you to stop again!

    FaceDeer,
    @FaceDeer@fedia.io avatar

    I know this is a popular thing to be angry about, but this time there was an actual fine. The consequences are being ratcheted up. The judge is just taking as much care as possible to make sure that all the "t"s are crossed and "i"s dotted along the way, otherwise he risks the whole trial being thrown out in the end. Look at some of the other high-profile "this rich guy's guilty as sin but got off anyway" cases, they often boil down to some screw-up that doesn't disprove the overall case but still invalidates the trial. Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby pop to mind.

    Crikeste,

    A $9,000 fine is hardly a consequence for the rich.

    harrys_balzac,

    The judge is limited - $1000 per violation is the maximum that can be imposed.

    FaceDeer,
    @FaceDeer@fedia.io avatar

    Yes, but as I explained, the judge is proceeding by steps up the ladder of consequences. The next time Trump violates a gag order he can now say "I have demonstrated that fines are insufficient, and so I'm moving on to jail time."

    Furbag,

    Sadly, it’s a limitation of the legal system. The judge even admitted in his ruling on this that he acknowledges that the monetary punishment is inadequate considering Donald Trump’s wealth and status. He threatened jail time for future incidents.

    The point is that as much as any sane person wants to see Trump behind bars, if you just skip straight to locking him up, he will use that as grounds for a mistrial. I’d rather see justice done slowly, him given every warning and every opportunity to correct his bad behavior. Yes, it’s not fair that he gets treated with kid gloves time and time again while a street level drug dealer would just get held without bond, say nothing of what would happen if they were to be charged with criminal contempt, but without going through the whole process Trump will just use the temporary incarceration to paint himself as a victim of political persecution and pivot it to his advantage when he inevitably appeals the guilty verdict.

    chiliedogg,

    True. But if he continues to ignore the court despite the maximum non-custodial penalty the judge will have cause to have him detained.

    They probably can’t logistically put him in a cell, but they can probably give him house arrest and have the internet disconnected.

    blazera,
    @blazera@lemmy.world avatar

    . The judge is just taking as much care as possible to make sure that all the "t"s are crossed and "i"s dotted along the way

    Ive heard this for every single trial trump has faced. This strategy isnt doing shit but making sure trump is comfortable before facing no consequences yet again.

    thisbenzingring,

    This is the first criminal trial. You haven’t heard it in this regard before.

    Natanael,

    And unlike prior trials it started with fines rather than just warnings. The maximum allowed fine, even!

    blazera,
    @blazera@lemmy.world avatar

    I mean it should have been criminal consequences for the russian collusion and ukraine blackmail cases. But both times I was assured they’re just making sure they handle everything spotlessly to ensure he faces…and it’s gone.

    thisbenzingring,

    The complexity is crazy. The federal system failing to hold him accountable because of politics is disgraceful. Thankfully he can’t avoid the States legal system that same way.

    blazera,
    @blazera@lemmy.world avatar

    man even this exact case has warped beyond the boundaries of whats supposed to be law to protect Trump. We already got a guilty verdict that Trump ordered his lawyer to pay this girl, but only the lawyer faced consequences. this shit’s in real jeopardy of hitting up against statute of limitations for a crime committed in 2016.

    TWeaK,

    So he’s going to jail right? Held in jail until his next trial date, like what normally happens to people held in contempt?

    SpaceNoodle,

    Next time, we totally mean it this time!

    capt_wolf,
    @capt_wolf@lemmy.world avatar

    Stop, or I’ll say stop again!

    azimir,

    I’ve written a strongly worded letter, don’t make address this envelope!

    splount,

    From what I have read, conditions of his release from the other trials include not committing ANY crime. Criminal contempt triggers this and Judge Chutkin is the most likely to jail him. Now…odds on that ACTUALLY happening…

    Grobmobularb,

    0.000000000% unfortunately

    Bipta,

    There's a 1 somewhere at the end of a nearly infinite list of zeroes.

    Grobmobularb,

    After a googolplex of zeros

    dogslayeggs,

    I think you dropped a 0.

    dhork,

    That’s an interesting thought. It will never happen, of course, but if she decides he violated the terms of his release she could remand him to jail until trial. If that happens, then all of the work Trump has done to delay his other trials until after the election would end up costing him big time.

    Wooster,
    @Wooster@startrek.website avatar

    So $9K?

    For the layman, that’s a lot, but for Trump?

    Grobmobularb,

    I’m sure Trump doesn’t pay anyways. He’ll use the money donated to him by Cleatus the slack jawed yokel.

    Chozo,

    Let's be real, that's probably a lot for Trump right now, too. The man's broke.

    Cubes,

    His stake in his “media” company is (nonsensically) still worth billions of dollars right now. He probably won’t be able to cash all of that out if he wanted to, but he is definitely not broke.

    androogee, (edited )

    Lol he’s not paying. Republicans gave him unfettered access to their election campaign funds

    Drain em Donny. Keep going.

    SuiXi3D,
    @SuiXi3D@fedia.io avatar

    It’s the legal maximum fine for this, and there are still three other charges that will be discussed this week. It’s very much possible that Trump may see the inside of a jail cell, but that remains to be seen.

    FaceDeer,
    @FaceDeer@fedia.io avatar

    And even though it seems like a tiny slap on Trump's tiny wrist, it's still an escalation. So next time Trump flagrantly violates gag orders the judge can escalate more. If there's an appeal it'll be important to be able to show the judge didn't jump straight to the harshest penalties.

    dhork,

    What a coincidence! I find him contemptible, too

    aniki,

    I’m sure he’s shaking in his boots.

    Mostly because he’s a fat worthless fuckstain, not because he’s scared of a 9,000 dollar fine.

    kent_eh,

    I’m sure he’s shaking in his boots.

    Seething with anger, more likely.

    dhork,

    I wonder if he’s gonna pull some sort of lame stunt, like pay it in pennies, or in 23 pairs of Trump Sneakers

    Dubskee,
    @Dubskee@lemmy.world avatar

    You’re gonna be major salty later this year when he inevitably wins the election.

    Bipta,

    It's funny his supporters don't realize they're supporting their own demises as well. It's perhaps the only silver lining to the nightmare.

    Dubskee,
    @Dubskee@lemmy.world avatar

    Right, because Biden is gonna lead them to the promised land…

    Tarquinn2049,

    Biden is not amazing, but he’s still at least doing his job. Trump wasn’t interested in actually doing the job, and wouldn’t have been capable of it if he was interested. Even putting aside Trumps corruption and collusion, he just wouldn’t be good at or capable of the job this time again. Even if he wasn’t specifically trying to end democracy and switch us to a dictatorship, he still just wouldn’t be a good president, as evidenced by the last time he was president. He isn’t capable of doing the job.

    Dubskee,
    @Dubskee@lemmy.world avatar

    deleted_by_moderator

    •
    Tarquinn2049,

    Ah, you didn’t even read the post. Maybe too many words. I’ll fix it. Biden not good, Trump still more bad. We no get choice.

    Captainvaqina,

    Oh look, the cattle cry of the dumbest shit stains on the planet. Fuck your makeup wearing fuhrer.

    Captainvaqina,

    Donald isn’t winning. You filthy anti-american traitors will cry. We the majority will laugh.

    Bassman1805,

    $9,000? Fucking seriously?

    Otakulad,

    Unfortunately, that is probably the statute. It sucks that we don’t scale up fines based on wealth.

    In Sweden (I think), speeding tickets are based on how much money you have. A person making $50k a year will pay a lower speeding ticket compared to a billionaire going the same speed.

    Lmaydev,

    As they say if the punishment is a fine it’s aimed at the poor.

    Otakulad,

    And if a company does it, it is a business expense.

    Natanael,

    Finland has that rule, not Sweden

    BearGun,

    Not entirely sure about speeding tickets specifically, but many fines in Sweden also scale with income.

    Natanael,

    Yeah, there’s the type of fine called dagsböter (day fine) scaled by income. It’s common but not the only type used.

    Subverb,

    It’s the maximum penalty, and the judge acknowledged that he had no control over it and that he wished it scaled with the contemnor’s ability to pay.

    waysideollie,
    @waysideollie@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

    @Bassman1805 @MicroWave New York law $1K per instance. I would guess this is a warning shot and if keeps violating the gag order, we'll see . is being very careful and not giving any wiggle room for an appeal.

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