Trump held in contempt of court, fined $9,000
Donald Trump has been held in contempt of court and fined $9,000 following violations of a gag order related to his ongoing New York hush money case. The gag order was initially put in place to protect the privacy and safety of witnesses, jurors, and court staff involved in the trial. Prosecutors presented ten instances of Trump's social media activity that they argued breached this order. The court found Trump in violation of the gag order in all but one instance. As a consequence, the former president has been ordered to pay the fine by the end of the week and remove the offending social media posts within two hours of the decision. Further violations of the gag order could result in jail time for Trump, as warned by the judge presiding over the case. During the proceedings, Trump's defense team contended that their client was merely responding to public attacks by two of the witnesses in the case. However, they failed to provide concrete examples when prompted by the judge. Notably, the gag order does not restrict Trump from commenting on District Attorney Alvin Bragg or Judge Juan Merchan, who has also been targeted by Trump's remarks. In his defense, Trump has called for Judge Merchan to recuse himself and to dismiss the case outright, claiming a lack of merit. Meanwhile, the prosecution continues to build its case, with testimony from Gary Farro, a banker involved in setting up the payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. These payments, facilitated by Trump's then-attorney Michael Cohen, are alleged to have been made to prevent damage to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.