Local prosecutors accused former President Donald Trump this week of an additional seven violations of a gag order that was imposed in a New York City criminal case accusing the ex-president of falsifying business records in connection to hush money from before the 2016 elections.
The order blocks public attacks from Trump on targets including witnesses, jurors, and family members of various individuals involved in the case — and Trump’s publicly posted about all of those groups. Internet posts implicating witnesses and jurors came after protections for the same were included in the gag order. He even shared a deceptive claim online tracing to Fox News’ Jesse Watters of anti-Trump individuals deceiving the court with the ambition of joining the Trump jury, which was taking shape this week.
Prosecutors were already accusing Trump of a series of gag order violations, with a hearing on the dispute set for early next week. Now, they’re updating their accusations. Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy alleged Thursday that Trump “violated the order seven more times,” as shared by legal journalist Adam Klasfeld, with Conroy adding: “It’s ridiculous. It’s got to stop.”
That reportedly includes the jury claims, which followed Trump grumbling some complaint in the presence of a prospective juror already this week, spurring outrage from presiding Judge Juan Merchan.
Per reports, Merchan said to Trump lawyer Todd Blanche that “while the juror was about 12 feet from [Trump], your client was audibly saying something in her direction….I will not have any juror intimidated in this courtroom.” Now, there’s the question of what will be done about Trump’s evident disruptions. Detention is a possibility in the event he’s found in contempt of court in connection to this, with up to 30 days possible — evidently on each individual infraction. Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann argued this week that it’s perfectly feasible for Trump to be detained, no matter his protection by the Secret Service.
