The judge in charge of the criminal trial against former US President Donald Trump fined the politician again this Monday (05/06/2024) with $1,000 for contempt of the ‘gag order’ and told him that these fines are not working and that he is considering the possibility of imprison him.
“The last thing I want to do is put him in jail,” said Judge Juan M. Merchán to Trump and current Republican candidate for the presidential elections next November and added: “But at the end of the day I have a job to do.”
However, the judge told Trump that the continued violation of his ‘gag order’, which prohibits him from publicly attacking witnesses, prosecutors and jurors, is a “direct attack on the rule of law” and that he cannot allow this. continue.
This is the second time in two weeks that the judge found the former president guilty of contempt.
Serious crimes
Last week, Merchán fined the mogul $9,000 after determining that Trump had violated the ‘gag order’ by making several public statements on his social network, Truth Social, and on his campaign website in which he attacked witnesses. who participate in the trial.
The Republican faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree to cover up an extramarital sexual relationship with porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign.
Trump has repeated on several occasions that he is innocent and that this trial is a witch hunt.
This is the fourth week of the trial and today Jeffrey McConney takes the stand, who worked as a corporate accountant at the Trump Organization and, according to prosecutors, helped organize the repayment of a $130,000 payment to Daniels.
ct (efe, afp)
