Monday, May 6, 2024 -The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money trial has fined him $1,000 for violating his gag order and sternly warned the former president that additional violation could result in jail time.
The fine marks the second sanction for Trump
for inflammatory comments about witnesses since the start of the trial last
month.
He was fined $9,000 last week for nine
violations.
Judge Juan M. Merchan warned Monday, May 6,
that additional gag order violations could potentially result in jail time,
though he said that was “the last thing I want to do.”
The trial enters its third week of
testimony Monday with prosecutors building toward their star witness, Michael
Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer who pleaded guilty to federal
charges related to the hush money payments.
Cohen is expected to undergo a bruising
cross-examination from defense attorneys seeking to undermine his credibility
with jurors.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying
business records in connection with payments made to stifle potentially
embarrassing stories.
Prosecutors say Trump’s company, the Trump
Organization, reimbursed Cohen for payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels and
gave Cohen bonuses and extra payments.
Prosecutors allege that those transactions
were falsely logged in company records as legal expenses.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied
sexual encounters with any of the women, as well as any wrongdoing.
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