Special Poll
During a hearing in Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Tuesday, prosecutors argued that the former president may be intentionally violating a gag order to provoke a political arrest. This order, discussed in court before the jury’s return, prohibits Trump from publicly denigrating witnesses and jurors, a rule he has allegedly broken multiple times via posts on his Truth Social platform.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office contended that Trump has flouted Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order at least 10 times, leading to their request for him to be held in criminal contempt. “The purpose of this hearing is to determine whether Mr. Trump should be held in contempt for one or all of these violations,” Judge Merchan stated as the proceedings commenced.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy expressed that while the DA’s office was not currently seeking to imprison Trump for these violations, it appeared Trump might be aiming for such an outcome. The prosecution is asking for a maximum fine of $1,000 for each infringing post and demands the removal of these posts from his platform. They also want Judge Merchan to caution Trump that future breaches could result in additional fines or up to 30 days in jail.
“His disobedience of the order is willful, it’s intentional,” Conroy argued. “He knows what he’s not allowed to do and he does it anyway.”
In defense, Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche insisted that there was no willful breach of the gag order, claiming Trump was merely reacting to ongoing political attacks. However, when pressed by Judge Merchan to specify which attacks Trump was responding to, Blanche struggled to provide clear examples.
“I keep asking you over and over to give me an example and I’m not getting an answer,” Judge Merchan noted, showing visible frustration with the lack of clarity from the defense.