Former US President Donald Trump has been fined $9,000 for nine violations of a gag order in his New York criminal trial. Judge Juan Merchan imposed the maximum financial penalty under state law, warning that further breaches could lead to jail time.
The gag order prohibits Trump from making public statements about trial participants, including witnesses and prosecutors. The violations involved posts on Truth Social and his campaign website targeting his former lawyer Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.
Judge Merchan ordered Trump to remove the offending posts and stated that continued willful violations would not be tolerated. A hearing on additional alleged violations is scheduled for Thursday.
Trump's lawyer argued the posts were responses to political attacks or reposts of media content, but the judge dismissed these claims, noting that Trump had manipulated quotes in some posts.
