Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office accused Trump of violating the gag order numerous times since it went into effect.
The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money case on Tuesday held the former president in criminal contempt over a series of posts on Truth Social that he said violated a gag order barring any attacks on jurors and witnesses.
Judge Juan Merchan ruled Trump in contempt for nine violations of his gag order, with a fine of $1,000 for each instance. The order prohibits the former president from “making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding,” and “public statements about any prospective juror or any juror.”
Merchan had indicated on April 23 that he was not impressed by the arguments from the defense, telling one of Trump’s attorneys that he was “losing all credibility” when he suggested that Trump was exercising caution to comply with the gag order.
$9,000? Fucking seriously?
Unfortunately, that is probably the statute. It sucks that we don’t scale up fines based on wealth.
In Sweden (I think), speeding tickets are based on how much money you have. A person making $50k a year will pay a lower speeding ticket compared to a billionaire going the same speed.
As they say if the punishment is a fine it’s aimed at the poor.
And if a company does it, it is a business expense.
It’s the maximum penalty, and the judge acknowledged that he had no control over it and that he wished it scaled with the contemnor’s ability to pay.