Judge threatens to jail Trump for 10th gag order breach

Donald Trump was on Monday given a blistering dressing down by the judge overseeing his hush money case who again threatened to put him in prison for any further gag order violations.

Judge Juan Merchan found the former president in criminal contempt for the 10th time for claiming the jury was “95 per cent Democrat” during a broadcast interview last month.

Mr Merchan fined Mr Trump $1,000 (£795) for the violation, but said given the financial penalties were not working as a “deterrent” he would “have to consider a jail sanction”.

“The last thing I want to do is put you in jail, you’re a former president, possibly next president as well,” Mr Merchan told Mr Trump.

He said that for “many reasons incarceration is truly a last resort”, including that it would “disrupt proceedings” and he would “worry about” the staff who would have to execute such a sanction.

“The magnitude of that decision is not lost on me, but I have a job to do”, Mr Merchan added.

“Your continued wilful violations of orders of the court constitute a direct attack on rule of law, I cannot allow that to continue.”

Prosecutors last week argued that Mr Trump had violated his gag order on another four occasions with “corrosive” and “insidious” attacks of witnesses and jurors.

Mr Merchan found in the Republican frontrunner’s favour for his jibes against his former “fixer” Michael Cohen, claiming Mr Trump had been responding to political attacks.

He also ruled that Mr Trump’s comments that former tabloid boss David Pecker had been “very nice” – which the prosecution had argued was meant as a thinly veiled threat to witnesses to behave – did “not constitute a violation at all”.

But Mr Merchan found Mr Trump’s comments to Real America’s Voice about the jury called into question the “legitimacy” of the trial and “again raised the spectre of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones”.

Porn star payment allegation

Issuing his ruling on nine previous violations last week, Mr Merchan had lamented the limited tools at his disposal to deter the defendant.

Criminal contempt is only punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or by 30 days in prison for each violation.

Mr Merchan said it would be “preferable” to impose a fine “more commensurate with the wealth of the contemnor”, such as a fine of up to $150,000 per violation.

Mr Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up reimbursing Mr Cohen for an alleged $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He denies having a sexual relationship with Ms Daniels. The trial continues.