On Tuesday, a New York judge charged former US President Donald Trump with contempt of court and fined him $9,000 for violating a judge's order prohibiting Trump from criticizing potential witnesses during his criminal trial, UNN reports with reference to Voice of America.
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New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchant rejected claims by the country's 45th president that he was merely responding to political attacks against him when he publicly criticized two key alleged witnesses at the trial: Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and political agent, and porn star Stormy Daniels.
Merchan called Trump's claims that reposts of supporters' comments on the former president's social media platform Truth Social do not violate the gag order "absurd.
Merchant found this to be contempt of court and ordered Trump to remove the offending Truth Social posts. The order prohibits Trump from criticizing witnesses, jurors, and other key figures in the trial, but not Merchant himself or the prosecuting attorney, Alvin Bragg. Trump often criticizes both.
Trump has repeatedly complained during breaks in the trial and at political rallies that the order banning public statements about the trial participants violates his constitutional right to freedom of speech.
Trump is likely to represent the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential election in November, and will almost certainly run again against President Joe Biden, the Democrat who defeated him in 2020.
In the ruling, Merchan noted that he "clearly knows and protects the defendant's First Amendment rights," but warned Trump that he would not hesitate to put him in jail if he continued to violate his orders.
In a separate ruling, Merchant said the trial would be adjourned on May 17 at Trump's request so he could attend his son Barron's graduation in Florida.
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Trump became the first former president to face criminal charges and face imprisonment if convicted.
He is accused of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 cash payment to Daniels before he won the 2016 presidential election to hide from voters her claim of an intimate one-night stand a decade earlier.
Trump denies the affair and all 34 charges in the New York case.
One of Trump's sons, Eric Trump, attended the trial on Tuesday. This was the first time a member of the Trump family was present in a money laundering case.