Former President Donald Trump was found in violation of a gag order Tuesday in his hush money criminal trial.
What Happened: Trump’s criminal trial in New York resumed Tuesday, and one of the first pieces of business was Judge Juan Merchan determining whether the former president violated a gag order.
Merchan ruled that Trump violated the gag order nine times, according to a report from NBC News. Trump was ordered to pay $9,000 total — $1,000 for each violation of the gag order. The former president was found to be in criminal contempt.
The judge ruled that Trump must remove the posts that violated the gag order from his Truth Social account by 2:15 p.m. ET Tuesday. Truth Social is a social media platform co-founded by Trump that is part of publicly traded Trump Media & Technology Group DJT.
The $1,000 fine for each violation is the maximum Merchan can levy on the former president.
"Because this Court is not cloaked with such discretion, it must therefore consider whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment," Merchan wrote.
Trump was warned that future violations would not be tolerated by the court.
"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 and incarceratory punishment."
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and a key witness in the case, praised the judge's decision Tuesday.
"The imposed fine is irrelevant. Judge Merchan's decision elucidates that this behavior will not be tolerated and that no one is above the law," Cohen said in a statement shared by NBC.
Related Link: Trump Hush Money Trial Has 12 Jurors: Here Are The 7 Men, 5 Women To Decide Former President’s Fate
What's Next: Trump was joined by his son Eric Trump in the courtroom Tuesday, the first family member to attend the trial.
Senior Trump campaign advisor Susie Wiles, former White House deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino and Trump advisor Jason Miller were also present in the courtroom Tuesday.
Tuesday's key witness is banker Gary Farro, who also took the stand Friday. Farro was an executive at First Republic Bank and involved with helping Cohen set up a bank account for a company formed called Essential Consultants LLC.
Farro's testimony could involve the bank account being used to pay adult actress Stormy Daniels.
A hearing will take place on Thursday on additional alleged gag order violations.
The hush money trial is expected to last six to eight weeks, with Tuesday marking the beginning of the third week of the trial and second week of testimony.
Trump pleaded not guilty and faces a maximum penalty of four years in prison for each charge if convicted.
Photo created via artificial intelligence on MidJourney and Zolnierek on Shutterstock.
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