Trump Fined $9K for Violating Gag Order

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Facts

  • Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday fined former US Pres. Donald Trump $1K for each of the nine Truth Social posts the judge said violated Trump's limited gag order in the New York 'hush money' case. Merchan also threatened Trump with jail time for further violations.1
  • The limited gag order issued by Merchan in the former president's trial in New York prohibits Trump from making public statements surrounding likely witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, or their families. Trump has so far unsuccessfully appealed the contempt charge in an appeals court.2
  • Most of the social media posts in question involved Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen, who is a witness for the prosecution, and the alleged hush-money recipient, adult film star Stormy Daniels.3
  • Also Tuesday, Merchan ruled that Trump would be allowed to miss court on May 17 to attend his son Barron's high school graduation in Florida. Trump had previously claimed the judge would bar him from doing so.4
  • This is the second week of testimony in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's attempt to prove Trump falsified business records in order to hide the payment to Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.5
  • On Tuesday, Gary Farro, a former director at the now-defunct First Republic Bank, began his testimony about his relation to the bank account Cohen allegedly created to send Daniels $130K.6

Sources: 1NBC, 2wsj.com, 3The Hill, 4New York Post, 5Al Jazeera and 6New York Times.

Narratives

  • Anti-Trump narrative, as provided by Huffington Post. This is a small penalty for Trump's blatant flaunting of the gag order. Merchan may have to up the ante, and even consider jail time if Trump doesn't cease attempting to put his thumb on the scale of justice with insulting posts and accusatory statements about witnesses and other members of the court.
  • Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by The Post Millennial. It's absurd that Trump is being punished when people like Daniels and Cohen have been profiting off public interviews and their accusations about the former president. Trump has merely been reiterating his long-held, correct views about this case being a witch hunt against him, and his First Amendment rights have been taken away.

Predictions