By Emmanuel Nduka
Former US President, Donald Trump, was held in contempt of court on Tuesday and subsequently fined $9,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order preventing him from publicly criticising witnesses and others involved in his New York hush-money case.
The ruling judge also warned that if he violated the gag order again, he could be served a jail term.
Prosecutors had alleged 10 violations, but New York Judge Juan M. Merchan found that there were nine, even as Trump had insisted that he was exercising his free speech rights.
“Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceration punishment,” Merchan warned.
According to the judge, Trump must pay the fine by the close of business on Friday and must remove seven offending posts from his Truth Social account and two from his campaign website by 2:15 p.m. EDT, Tuesday.
Prosecutors had asked Justice Merchan to fine Trump $10,000 for violating the order.
Defence lawyer Todd Blanche argued that the former President should not be punished for responding to political attacks, even as the lawyer could not provide specific examples of the attacks to which Trump was said to be responding.
The judge said Trump’s lawyer lacked evidence to support his argument.
At the heart of this case is a payment made days before Trump was elected president in 2016. His attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, paid $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair,which Trump refutes.
