Stormy Daniels' former lawyer testifies in Trump's hush money trial

Judge Juan Merchan issued a ruling Tuesday finding Donald Trump in contempt of court “for willfully disobeying a lawful mandate” nine times this month, saying he violated a gag order and criticized expected trial witnesses.

“Defendant violated the Order by making social media posts about known witnesses pertaining to their participation in this criminal proceeding and by making public statements about jurors in this criminal proceeding," it continues.

The nine incidents represent seven posts and reposts on Truth Social and two posts on Trump’s campaign website. He was fined $1,000 for each violation, must pay the fine by the close of business Friday and had to remove the posts by Tuesday.

Merchan also threatened incarceration if Trump willfully violates the gag order again. The gag order restricts prosecutors and the defense from commenting on court figures outside of the courtroom.

Prosecutors have subsequently flagged an additional four comments that Trump has made since last week’s hearing, including about Michael Cohen and former AMI chief David Pecker. Merchan has scheduled another hearing on Thursday to address those comments.

Donald Trump used his day off from a criminal trial related to a past election to cast a dark, familiar shadow over the next one.

The presumptive GOP nominee declined to say if he’d accept the result of his White House race with President Joe Biden in November, warning in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday that if the election was not “honest,” then “you have to fight for the right of the country.”

The ex-president was campaigning in Wisconsin and Michigan but was due back in court today in Manhattan for the resumption of his first criminal trial.

His remarks on the 2024 contest were especially ominous given his refusal to accept his loss in 2020 based on his false claims of voter fraud. They also recalled his warning to supporters before the January, 6, 2021, mob attack on the US Capitol that if they didn’t “fight like hell,” they wouldn’t have a country anymore.

Trump’s warning was just the latest example this week of extreme rhetoric that suggests his threats to American democracy are undimmed.

Read the full analysis.

Before the jury was called in Tuesday morning, Judge Juan Merchan levied a $9,000 fine against former President Donald Trump for multiple violations of the judge’s gag order barring public discussion of witnesses in the case or the jury.

Merchan fined Trump for nine violations – $1,000 each, the maximum allowed by law – after prosecutors had filed a motion to hold the former president in contempt over his social media posts and public comments about Cohen, Daniels and the makeup of the jury pool.

This won’t be Trump’s last run-in with Merchan’s gag order, either. The Manhattan district attorney’s office last week cited another four comments from Trump that allegedly violated the order. Judge Juan Merchan has scheduled a hearing on those violations for this morning.

The comments cited by prosecutors pointed to Trump’s continued commentary about witnesses, including that he thought AMI chief David Pecker was “nice.” Prosecutors argued that the remark was a message to other witnesses to “be nice” on the stand.

In his order, the judge warned Trump that he could be imprisoned if he continues to willfully violate the gag order. Merchan could jail Trump for 30 days for finding him in contempt.

We're now in the third week of court proceedings in Donald Trump's historic hush money criminal trial.

To refresh your memory, here are the key moments and witnesses from the trial so far:

April 15: Trial began with jury selection

April 19: A panel of 12 jurors and six alternates was selected.

April 22: The prosecution and defense made their opening statements. Former tabloid boss David Pecker was called to testify.

April 23: Judge Juan Merchan held a Sandoval hearing for Trump's alleged gag order violations, but reserved his decision.

April 25: While Trump sat in the Manhattan courtroom, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the matter of his immunity in special counsel Jack Smith's election subversion case against him.

April 26: Pecker's direct questioning and cross-examination concluded. Trump's former longtime assistant Rhona Graff was called to testify briefly. Finally, Michael Cohen's former banker Gary Farro testified.

April 30: Farro's testimony concluded. Prosecutors then called Dr. Robert Browning, the executive director of C-SPAN archives, and Philip Thompson who works for a court reporting company. Then, Keith Davidson, the former attorney for Daniels and McDougal, took the stand. Davidson is set to continue to testify Thursday.