Judge holds Trump in contempt of court for violating gag order
A New York judge on Tuesday held former President Donald Trump in contempt of court and fined him $9,000 for violating the judge’s gag order prohibiting Trump from criticizing potential witnesses at his criminal trial. New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan rejected claims by the country’s 45th president that he was merely responding to political attacks against him when he assailed two key likely witnesses at the trial: Michael Cohen, his one-time lawyer and political fixer, and porn film star Stormy Daniels. Merchan described as "counterintuitive and absurd" Trump’s claims that reposts of supporters’ comments on the former president’s Truth Social media platform did not amount to a violation of the gag order. In addition to finding him in contempt, Merchan ordered Trump to remove the offending Truth Social posts. The gag order bars Trump from criticizing witnesses, jurors and other key figures in the trial, but not Merchan himself or the prosecutor who brought the case, Alvin Bragg. Trump has often taken aim at both. Trump has repeatedly complained during breaks in the trial and at political rallies that the gag order violates his constitutional right of free speech. Trump is the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential candidate in the November election and all but certain to again face President Joe Biden, the Democrat who defeated him in 2020. Merchan said in an order that he was "keenly aware of, and protective of, Defendant’s First Amendment rights," but he warned Trump that he would not hesitate to jail him if he continues to violate his orders. In a separate decision, Merchan said that the trial would be recessed on May 17 at Trump’s request so that he could attend his son Barron’s high school graduation in Florida. Trump is the first former president to face criminal charges and the threat of imprisonment if convicted. He is accused of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels just ahead of his successful 2016 run for the presidency to keep voters from learning about her claim of a one-night tryst with him a decade earlier. Trump has denied the affair and all 34 charges in the New York case. As the trial resumed Tuesday, one of Trump’s sons, Eric Trump, was in the courtroom for the proceedings. This marked the first time a member of Trump’s family had been present in the hush money case. Gary Farro, a senior managing director at the now-defunct First Republic Bank in New York, resumed his testimony from last week, describing how he set up an account in October 2016 for Cohen, which prosecutors say Cohen then used to make the hush money payment to Daniels. But Farro said Cohen did not make it clear that the account would be used to pay a porn star. Cohen transferred $131,000 from his home equity line of credit at the bank to fund the new account, which he called Essential Consultants. Documents at the trial showed that Cohen wired the $130,000 to Keith Davidson, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer at the time, on October 27, 2016. The purpose of the wire transfer was listed as a "retainer." On cross-examination, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche got Farro to repeat his earlier testimony that Cohen was a "difficult client." Blanche seemed to be trying to suggest to the 12-member jury that Cohen was volatile. Cohen was convicted of campaign finance laws in connection with the payment of the hush money to Daniels and other offenses, including perjury, and served 13 ½ months in prison. Because he once served Trump with extraordinary loyalty before turning against him, he could well be the single most important witness at the trial. Trump is facing three other criminal indictments, including two accusing him of illegally trying to upend his 2020 loss to Biden. But because of his lawyers’ legal challenges in the other three cases, the New York trial may be the only one he faces before the 2024 election. Testimony in the trial started last week. David Pecker, a former publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid and a longtime Trump friend, told the 12-member jury during four days of testimony that he agreed at an August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower in New York with Trump and Cohen to do whatever he could to help Trump win the presidency. Prosecutors are calling the meeting the "Trump Tower conspiracy." Pecker said he published favorable stories about Trump and embellished negative ones about his opponents. More importantly, Pecker said he paid $150,000 to a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, to kill information of her claim that she had a monthslong affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007. Trump has denied the affair, but Pecker testified that Trump at one point called McDougal "a nice girl." After he became president, Pecker said Trump asked about her well-being as he and Pecker walked the White House grounds in mid-2017. In addition, Pecker said he paid another $30,000 to a doorman at a Trump New York property to kill his false claim that Trump had fathered an out-of-wedlock child. Prosecutors have not publicly disclosed who their next witness will be after Farro. The trial could last another five weeks before the jury considers the case. The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports. Subscribe
VOA News