MANHATTAN (CN) — Donald Trump was found in contempt of court on Monday when a New York judge ruled that he violated his gag order for a 10th time in the former president’s criminal trial.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan threatened Trump with jail time for repeatedly violating court orders with public attacks on the trial’s jurors and witnesses. Merchan last week found Trump in contempt for nine violations, fining him $1,000 per infraction.
On Monday, he ruled that Trump breached the order one more time and fined him an additional $1,000.
“It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent,” Merchan said. “Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction if recommended.”
Merchan ruled that Trump’s latest violation occurred on April 22, when Trump gave an interview to a right-wing cable network and attacked the trial’s jury selection process.
“You know [the judge is] rushing the trial like crazy,” Trump said. “Nobody's ever seen a thing go like this. That jury was picked so fast — 95% Democrats. The area’s mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a — just a purely Democrat area. It's a very unfair situation, that I can tell you."
The judge found that Trump in this instance “violated the order by making public statements about the jury and how it was selected.”
“In doing so, defendant not only called into question the integrity, and therefore the legitimacy of these proceedings, but again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and their loved ones,” Merchan wrote in his five-page ruling.
Prosecutors wanted Trump sanctioned for four supposed violations of the order, but Merchan only found grounds to punish him for the one. In his ruling, the judge lamented that the monetary fines didn’t appear to be acting as a significant deterrent for Trump’s behavior.
“Because this is now the tenth time that this court has found defendant in criminal contempt, spanning three separate motions, it is apparent that monetary fines have not, and will not, suffice to deter defendant from violating this court’s lawful orders,” Merchan wrote.
Merchan emphasized on Monday that he doesn’t wish to jail Trump for future infractions, but his “continued violations” may leave him with no choice.
“I cannot allow that to continue,” the judge said. “So as much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction … I want you to understand that I will, if necessary and appropriate.”
Speaking to Trump directly, Merchan noted the “magnitude of such a decision” and expressed concern for the people who would have to execute such a sanction.
“You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well,” Merchan said, adding, “but at the end of the day, I have a job to do.”
Trump dodged land mines on the way to the courtroom Monday, as reporters shouted questions about the case’s jury and witnesses — both barred subjects under the gag order.
“Is Michael Cohen a liar?” one journalist asked. Trump responded by calling the court’s order unconstitutional. He will have until the end of Friday to pay the $1,000 fine for his latest violation.
Trump is standing trial on charges that he falsified business records to cover up hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels, a move that prosecutors claim was part of the broader scheme by Trump to tamper with the 2016 presidential election by killing negative press about his campaign.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the charges against Trump last year, accusing him of paying Daniels to cover up an extramarital affair. The former president pleaded not guilty to the 34 counts of falsifying business records and denied ever having a relationship with Daniels.
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