Trump held in con­tempt for vio­lat­ing gag order in hush mon­ey tri­al

For­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump must pay $9,000 for vio­lat­ing a gag order mul­ti­ple times in his New York crim­i­nal hush mon­ey tri­al, a judge ruled Tues­day.
Jus­tice Juan Mer­chan sided with pros­e­cu­tors who alleged Trump had vio­lat­ed his gag order at least nine times since the first crim­i­nal tri­al against a for­mer U.S. pres­i­dent began ear­li­er this month. New York state law allows fines of up to $1,000 for each gag order vio­la­tion. Mer­chan said a writ­ten order would be forth­com­ing.

For­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump speaks to the media after the first day of open­ing argu­ments in his tri­al at Man­hat­tan Crim­i­nal Court for fal­si­fy­ing doc­u­ments relat­ed to hush mon­ey pay­ments, in New York, New York, on Mon­day, April 22, 2024. (Vic­tor J. Blue for the Wash­ing­ton Post/ Pool)

The deci­sion comes days after a hear­ing was held to deter­mine whether Trump’s recent social media posts about cer­tain wit­ness­es in the case tru­ly vio­lat­ed …