Judge warns Donald Trump of going to prison after violating gag order for 10th time in hush money trial

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal trial said he would find the former president guilty of contempt of court for the 10th time for violating a gag order and said he would consider jailing him for future violations.

Judge Juan Merchán said the nine $1,000 ($1,507) fines he had imposed so far did not appear to deter Trump from violating the gag order.

The order prohibits Trump from making public comments about jurors, witnesses and families of the judge and prosecutors if the statements are intended to interfere with the case.

Judge Merchan said he considered the prison sentence “truly a last resort” for many reasons, including the interruption of the trial, the political implications of imprisoning a prominent presidential candidate before the election and the extraordinary security challenges of imprisoning a former president with a lifetime detail from the Secret Service.

But he said Trump’s “continued and deliberate” violations of the gag order amounted to a “direct attack on the rule of law.”

“I do not want to impose a prison sentence and I have done everything possible to avoid it. But I will do so if necessary,” he said from the stand in the absence of the jury.

New York law allows fines of up to $1,000 or jail terms of up to 30 days for violating a court-imposed gag order.

Judge Merchan imposed a $1,000 fine Monday for an interview aired April 22 in which the former Republican chairman said, “That jury was picked very quickly: 95 percent Democrats. The area is largely all Democrats.”

It found that other statements pointed out by prosecutors that mentioned witnesses Michael Cohen and David Pecker did not violate the order.

Last week he fined Trump $9,000 for nine social media posts that he said had violated the gag order.

Judge Merchan spoke as Trump sat at the defendant’s table in the New York courtroom in the first criminal trial of a former US president.