NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump could face more sanctions over another round of potential gag order violations when witness testimony in his hush money trial resumes Thursday morning.
Judge Juan M. Merchan will hold a hearing over four more online posts that prosecutors say violate the court's mandate barring the former president from speaking publicly about jurors or key witnesses in the case. Merchan already found Trump in contempt of court on Tuesday, fining him $9,000 over nine online posts and threatening him with jail time if he continues violating the gag order.
It’s unclear when Merchan might rule on the new sanctions request. The trial is in its 10th day.
Keith Davidson is expected to return to the stand after dominating Tuesday's witness testimony, outlining how he negotiated hush money deals with the National Enquirer and Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, on behalf of former Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Prosecutors have said that Trump and others conducted a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election by purchasing and burying salacious stories that might hurt his campaign.
Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records to cover up hush money payments — including $130,000 given to Daniels by Cohen — recording them instead as legal expenses.
He has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.
Currently:
— Key players: Who’s who at Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial
— The hush money case is just one of Trump’s legal cases. See the others here
— Read the judge's full order on Donald Trump's gag order violations
— Trump calls judge ‘crooked’ after facing a warning of jail time if he violates a trial gag order
Here's the latest:
Judge Juan M. Merchan grew impatient during Thursday's contempt hearing as the defense tried to justify Donald Trump’s April 22 comments to the Real America’s Voice TV network about the jury.
Trump told the network that the jury was “95% Democrats,” “the area’s mostly all Democrat,” and, “It’s a very unfair situation that I can tell you.”
Merchan interrupted Todd Blanche as he argued the comments were permissible because Trump believes the trial is a “political persecution” and that the location, in heavily Democratic Manhattan, put him at a distinct disadvantage.
“Did he violate the gag order?” Merchan asked.
“Absolutely, positively not,” Blanche responded.
“He spoke about the jury, right?” an incredulous Merchan said. “He said the jury was 95% Democrats and the jury had been rushed through and the implication being that this is not a fair jury.”
Blanche reasoned that the comment — a few seconds from a 21-minute interview — was said a passing reference to “the overall proceedings being unfair and political” and was not directed at any specific jurors.
Donald Trump's defense attorney argued during a contempt hearing Thursday that Michael Cohen should not be protected by a gag order barring the former president from speaking about witnesses and others connected to the hush money trial.
Todd Blanche argued that shouldn’t be the case.
He cited examples of social media posts from Cohen that were critical of Trump, including one that appeared to include a fabricated image of the former president in an orange superhero costume.
He said Cohen’s TikTok and other social media accounts “repeatedly” criticize and mock Trump and the gag order.
“This is not a man that needs protection from the gag order,” Blanche said.
Cohen was previously Trump's attorney and personal fixer.
Judge Juan M. Merchan indicated Thursday that he would not sanction Donald Trump for a comment last week wherein he called David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer, “a nice guy,” in response to a question about Pecker's testimony.
“Just to save you time, I’m not terribly concerned about that one,” Merchan told Trump's attorney Todd Blanche. The judge, however, did express concern about the three other comments at issue in the hearing.
Pecker's witness testimony last week shed light on the tabloid's practice of paying sources for stories, including paying to bury stories about Trump.
Attorney Todd Blanche began his defense of Donald Trump's statements Thursday morning by invoking a recent comment by President Joe Biden forecasting “stormy weather” for Trump, an “obvious” reference to Stormy Daniels, Blanche said.
“President Trump can’t respond to that in the way he wants to because of this gag order,” he added.
Judge Juan M. Merchan said Trump was not barred from responding to his Democratic rival, but “is not allowed to refer to foreseeable witnesses.”
Blanche also said media coverage of the trial has made it impossible for Trump to conduct interviews without being bombarded with questions about the trial.
“He can’t just say no comment repeatedly. He’s running for president,” the attorney said, adding the gag order should be seen in the context of “what’s happening behind us,” a reference to the high volume of journalists in the courthouse.
Merchan quickly batted down the argument, noting that members of the press are “not defendants in this case.”
“The former president of the United States is on trial,” the judge continued. “He’s the leading candidate for the Republican party right now. It’s not surprising that we have press here, we have press in the overflow room, we have people throughout the world that are interested.”
Prosecutors in Donald Trump's hush money case are seeking more fines — and not jail time — for the former president over more alleged violations of his gag order.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy asked the judge to impose a $1,000 fine for each of the four violations, which prosecutors contend include comments made in the hallway outside the courtroom, where Trump often speaks to reporters.
In one of those monologues, Trump attacked Michael Cohen as a “liar.”
“The defendant is talking about witnesses and the jury in this case, one right here outside this door,” said Conroy, the prosecutor. “This is the most critical time, the time the proceeding has to be protected.”
Conroy said prosecutors were not yet seeking jail time as punishment because the alleged violations at issue happened before Merchan ordered Trump on Tuesday to pay a $9,000 fine for nine previous violations.
“Because we’d prefer to minimize disruption to this proceeding, we are not yet seeking jail, but the court’s decision this past Tuesday will inform the approach we take to future violations,” Conroy told the judge.
Judge Juan M. Merchan opened Thursday's proceedings in Donald Trump's hush money trial with a contempt hearing on prosecutors' allegations that the former president violated his gag order four more times.
Those are in addition to nine violations Trump was fined for earlier in the week.
Merchan said prosecutors had submitted four exhibits, constituting a video clip of each violation, which will not be played in court. Trump’s lawyers submitted nearly 500 pages of evidence in a bid to refute the alleged violations.
In a court filing, his lawyers argued that the gag order was designed to silence him while his enemies — including witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels — are allowed to repeatedly attack him.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy said in court Thursday that’s not true, arguing that the gag order was imposed as a result of Trump’s “persistent and escalating rhetoric aimed and participants in this proceeding.”
“By talking about the jury at all, he places this process and this proceeding in jeopardy. That is what the order forbids and he did it anyway,” Conroy added.
The jury was not present for the proceeding.
Donald Trump arrived at the courthouse in lower Manhattan for the 10th day of his hush money trial just after 9 a.m. on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters on his way in, the former president criticized the proceedings as “a ridiculous show trial” and “bogus.”
He also griped that the case should have been brought “eight years ago,” which would have been before prosecutors allege a crime was committed.
Karen McDougal sold her story to the National Enquirer in August 2016 and Stormy Daniels made her deal with Michel Cohen in October 2016. Trump didn’t start making reimbursement payments to Cohen, which prosecutors say were falsely logged as legal fees, until 2017.
Trump strode into the courtroom trailed by his lawyers and aides including Boris Epshteyn.
Donald Trump's hush money trial is expected to last another month or more, with jurors hearing testimony four days a week. The former president — who has cast the prosecution as an effort to hurt his 2024 campaign — is required to be there, much to his stated dismay.
“They don’t want me on the campaign trail,” he said Tuesday.
The judge said Tuesday that there will be no court on May 17 so Trump can attend his son Barron’s high school graduation.
Court also won’t be in session on May 24 to accommodate a juror who has a flight that morning, the judge said. That means the trial will be off for four straight days for the Memorial Day weekend, resuming on May 28.
Keith Davidson, a lawyer who represented former Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn actor Stormy Daniels in hush money deals with Michael Cohen and the National Enquirer, returns to the witness stand on Thursday.
His testimony dominated Tuesday afternoon as he outlined the sequence of events that led up to the agreements, including his first interactions with Cohen, who was then Trump's lawyer and personal fixer. Among other things, Davidson testified that pseudonyms were used in the deal with Daniels and that Cohen was late in delivering the agreed-upon $130,000 payment for the porn performer.
He also testified that he thought Daniels' story would be a “tornado” if it got out.
Daniels has alleged that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 while McDougal alleged a yearlong affair with him. Trump has denied both allegations.
During a one-day break in Donald Trump's historic hush money trial, the former president lashed out at the judge overseeing the case and complained about a gag order that bars him from speaking publicly about key witnesses and others.
“There is no crime. I have a crooked judge, is a totally conflicted judge,” Trump told supporters at a Waukesha, Wisconsin, event on Wednesday.
While the gag order pertains to speaking publicly about jurors, key witnesses and others in the case, Trump remains free to criticize Judge Juan M. Merchan.
Witness testimony in Donald Trump's criminal trial is set to resume Thursday, but only after a hearing on more potential gag order violations takes place.
Prosecutors have said that Trump, in four new online posts, again violated a court mandate barring him from speaking publicly about jurors, witnesses and others in the hush money case. Judge Juan M. Merchan already sanctioned the former president on Tuesday for nine online posts, fining him $9,000 and threatening him with jail time if he continues violating the order.
The sanctions — and the prospect of more — highlight the difficulty Trump has had adjusting to his court responsibilities as a criminal defendant while also campaigning as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (Charly Triballeau/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump walks outside the courtroom of his trial at Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump awaits the start of proceedings at Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. (Eduardo Munoz/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump awaits the start of proceedings at Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)
