Trump tri­al: Judge to decide if for­mer pres­i­dent vio­lat­ed gag order

Man­hat­tan Dis­trict Attor­ney Alvin Bragg will urge a judge on Tues­day at a hear­ing to hold Don­ald Trump in crim­i­nal con­tempt for alleged­ly vio­lat­ing a gag order in the for­mer president’s hush mon­ey case in New York.
Bragg has claimed Trump vio­lat­ed the order at least 10 times and has argued to Judge Juan Mer­chan that a con­tempt find­ing should be accom­pa­nied by sanc­tions of $1,000 per gag order vio­la­tion and a warn­ing that addi­tion­al vio­la­tions would result in a pun­ish­ment of prison time.
Mer­chan appeared poised to con­sid­er hold­ing Trump in con­tempt seri­ous­ly after he sched­uled the hear­ing on the mat­ter and ordered Trump’s attor­neys to respond in writ­ing ahead of the hear­ing with rea­sons why the for­mer pres­i­dent should not be penal­ized for …