NEW YORK - The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal trial held him in contempt of court again Monday for violating his gag order prohibiting him from attacking prospective witnesses in the case and sternly warned him he could be jailed if he continues to ignore the order.

VOA News reported that New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan ruled at the outset of the third week of Trump’s trial in which he is accused of falsifying business records at his Trump Organization real estate conglomerate to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of his successful 2016 run for the presidency to silence her from talking about her claim of a one-time tryst with him a decade earlier.

Trump has denied her claim of a liaison and all 34 charges he is facing. But Merchan warned him that his violation of the gag order is a “direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue."

Merchan said that “the last thing” he wanted to do was to put Trump in jail but would if he had to, adding, “You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well.”

Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on May 2, 2024.

Merchan fined Trump another $1,000 for the violation of the gag order, on top of the $9,000 he fined him last week for another nine violations of the gag order. Last week, Merchan acknowledged that the penalty was a pittance for a billionaire like Trump.

The case was resuming Monday, with the 12-member jury yet to hear from two key witnesses in the case against the former U.S. president – his former lawyer and political fixer, convicted perjurer Michael Cohen, and Daniels.

Story Date: May 7, 2024