Judge finds Trump in contempt for violating his gag order, fines him $9,000
Judge Juan Merchan says that Donald Trump is fined $9,000 for violating prohibitions on commenting on witnesses.
Prosecutors had accused the former president of violating his gag order multiple times, asking the judge to fine him $1,000 per violation.
Under the gag order, Trump cannot make, or direct others to make, public statements about trial witnesses concerning their roles in the investigation and at trial, prosecutors other than the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, and members of the court staff or the district attorney’s staff.
Trump is free to criticize Merchan himself, though it will probably not help Trump win the favor over the judge, who will decide on Trump’s sentence if the jury finds him guilty.
Before the trial, Merchan extended the gag order to cover his family and Bragg’s family after Trump posted about Merchan’s daughter, who worked for a company that helped Democratic candidates with digital campaigns.
Key events
Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is now asking Phillip Thompson about Trump’s deposition transcript in E Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against him.
She’s asking whether the company produced both an exact copy of the transcript, and video of the deposition, to the district attorney’s office.
Mangold is now showing the jury the cover page for the deposition of Donald J Trump in the E Jean Carroll case in October 2022.
Prosecutors show clip of Trump saying he has ‘no idea who these women are’
Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutors played some of the videos that C-SPAN produced while Dr Robert Browning was still on the stand.
In some of the videos that ran before the election, Trump denied allegations of inappropriate conduct with women, saying in one 14 October 2016 rally from Greensboro, North Carolina:
As you have seen right now, I have been viciously attacked with lies and smears … I have no idea who these women are, I have no idea, no idea …
At another event on 22 October 2016 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Trump can be heard on video saying:
They’re trying to poison the mind of the American public. Every one of those woman lied when they came forward … total fabrication, the events never happened, never. All of these lies will be sued after the election is over.
Phillip Thompson takes the stand
Robert Browning is off the stand.
The prosecution calls its fifth witness: Phillip Thompson, a custodian of records testifying for Esquire Deposition Service.
Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is asking Robert Browning whether C-SPAN had been subpoenaed to provide prosecutors of video of events with Donald Trump.
She asked whether he complied. “Yes, we did.”
Mangold is now playing some of the videos that C-SPAN produced and in effect asking Browning to confirm whether they’re portions of videos produced by the network.
Victoria Bekiempis
“Are you nervous?” prosecutor Rebecca Mangold asks Robert Browning.
“A little bit,” he says, offering a friendly smile.
“I manage the collection of video that’s all aired on the network,” he later said of his work.
He’s basically being called in a custodial capacity, discussing facts surrounding media that prosecutors are admitting.
C-SPAN archivist Robert Browning takes the stand
The prosecution’s next witness is on the stand: Dr Robert Browning.
Browning says he is the executive director of C-SPAN archives and has worked there for 37 years.
Victoria Bekiempis
The jury has returned. Judge Juan Merchan is going over scheduling matters.
He informs them that they will not be working the Friday before Memorial Day, as one of the jurors had let a court officer know they had a flight; right before the jury entered the courtroom, Merchan had addressed this and neither side objected. He also told them that there would be no court on 17 May.
The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, is inside the Manhattan courthouse today to show his support for Donald Trump.
Posting to X this morning, Paxton wrote:
With President Trump in NYC to sit through this sham of a trial. This trial is a travesty of justice. I stand with Trump.
With President Trump in NYC to sit through this sham of a trial. This trial is a travesty of justice. I stand with Trump.
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) April 30, 2024
Hugo Lowell
The New York judge presiding in Donald Trump’s criminal trial fined the former president $9,000 on Tuesday for violating a gag order designed to protect trial participants from his abuse.
Juan Merchan found Trump in contempt of the gag order in nine out of 10 instances identified by prosecutors, in which Trump assailed the credibility of his former lawyer Michael Cohen and the adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Merchan also warned Trump that he could be subject to jail time if he continued to violate the gag order. He wrote:
The Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment.
The judge imposed the maximum $1,000 fine for each of the nine violations, but Trump may be subject to more penalties this week after Merchan scheduled another contempt hearing on Thursday for additional alleged violations.
Victoria Bekiempis
Donald Trump’s being held in contempt could well cause more issues for him at the trial.
As both sides are discussing housekeeping matters, the prosecution said that it wants to question Trump about this if he takes the stand.
The people wish to give supplemental Sandoval notice that if the defendant testifies in this trial, the people will seek to cross-examine him on those findings.
