Judge fines Trump $9,000 for violating gag order
NEW YORK
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal trial fined him $9,000 on Tuesday for repeatedly violating a gag order that bars him from making attacks on witnesses, jurors and others connected to the case.
Judge Juan M. Merchan issued his ruling as the former president’s trial began its third week, saying that Trump’s statements, including on social media, had violated the order. Prosecutors had asked that Trump be held in contempt, citing 10 public statements that they said posed a “threat” to the trial, which centers on a hush-money deal struck in the final days of his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump, the first former president to face criminal prosecution, is accused of falsifying records to cover up the hush-money payment, which was made to a porn actor, Stormy Daniels. The $130,000 payment – made by Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen – silenced Daniels’ story of a sexual encounter with Trump.
Immediately after the contempt ruling, prosecutors resumed their questioning of Gary Farro, a banker who helped Cohen open the account that he used to pay Daniels. Trump’s lawyers planned to cross-examine Farro after prosecutors finished their questioning.
One potential witness who was involved in the hush-money deal is Keith Davidson, the lawyer who represented Daniels and negotiated the payout with Cohen.
Trump, who is again the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has pleaded not guilty and denied that he had sex with Daniels. If convicted, he could face probation or up to four years in prison.
Here’s what else to know about the trial:
Prosecutors charged
●
Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records – charges that stem from the way Trump reimbursed Cohen for the hush money. In internal records, Trump’s company classified the repayment to Cohen as legal expenses, citing a retainer agreement. Prosecutors say there were no such expenses or retainer agreement.
Last week, the first
● trial week that featured testimony, was dominated by David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, who spent four days on the stand. Pecker, a longtime associate of the former president, detailed his efforts to safeguard Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. He spoke at length about a “catchand-kill” scheme that he said he had entered into with Trump and Cohen during a 2015 meeting at Trump Tower, in which he purchased the rights to unsavory stories he had no intention of running to prevent them from gaining publicity.