Donald Trump Fined $9,000 for Violating Gag Order in Hush Money Trial

The judge overseeing the criminal hush money trial of Donald Trump has imposed a fine on the former US president of $9,000 for contempt of court and said he would consider jailing him if he continued to violate a gag order.

Justice Juan Merchan said in a written order that the fine may not be enough to serve as a deterrent for the wealthy businessman, and expressed regret at not having the authority to impose a higher penalty.

“Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate wilful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” Merchan wrote.

Merchan had put in place the gag order to stop Trump from criticizing witnesses and others involved in the case.

The fine – which came out at $1,000 for each of the nine online statements that Merchan said violated the order – was just short of the $10,000 penalty that prosecutors had requested for posts that insulted likely witnesses and challenged the impartiality of the jury.

Will there be a Further Fine for Trump?

Merchan will reportedly consider whether to impose further fines for other statements at a hearing on Thursday. He also ordered Trump to remove the statements from his Truth Social account and his campaign website by 2.15 pm EDT.

The former president has argued that the gag order violates his free speech rights, and his lawyer Todd Blanche told Merchan last week that the statements at issue were responses to political attacks – as reported by Reuters.

Merchan highlighted that Blanche was unable to give any evidence to show that the expected witnesses had attacked Trump before he insulted them.

The $9,000 fine, due by Friday, is a relatively small penalty for the multi-millionaire, who has already posted $266.6 million in bonds as he appeals civil judgments in two other cases. Jail time, however, would be an unprecedented occurrence in the first criminal trial of a former US president.

It isn’t clear whether Trump would be sent to New York City’s jail on Rikers Island, or whether security concerns would require more lenient treatment, such as home confinement in his Trump Tower triplex.

Merchan’s order came as the trial continued with testimony from a banker familiar with accounts involved in Trump’s alleged scheme to influence the 2016 election by covering up a sex scandal.

The Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential election is charged with falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump in 2006. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied having sex with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.