Judge Juan Merchan issued a ruling Tuesday finding Donald Trump in contempt of court for “for willfully disobeying a lawful mandate” nine times this month, saying he violated a gag order and criticized expected trial witnesses.
“This Court rejects Defendant’s arguments and finds that the People have established the elements of criminal contempt beyond a reasonable doubt as to Exhibits 2-10,” the ruling states.
“Defendant violated the Order by making social media posts about known witnesses pertaining to their participation in this criminal proceeding and by making public statements about jurors in this criminal proceeding.”
The nine incidents represent seven posts and reposts on Truth Social and two posts on Trump’s campaign website. He was fined $1,000 for each violation, must pay the fine by the close of business Friday and must remove the posts by 2:15 p.m. today.
Merchan also threatened incarceration if Trump willfully violates the gag order again.
“THEREFORE, Defendant is hereby warned that 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,” he wrote.
The gag order restricts prosecutors and the defense from commenting on court figures outside of the courtroom.
Prosecutors have subsequently flagged an additional four comments that Trump has made since last week’s hearing, including about Michael Cohen and former AMI chief David Pecker. Merchan has scheduled another hearing on Thursday to address those comments.