AP
The judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal trial said Monday he would hold the former president in contempt for the 10th time for ignoring a gag order and said he would consider jailing him if there are new violations.
Judge Juan Merchán said the $1,000 fines he has imposed so far do not appear to deter Trump from violating the order that prohibits him from making public comments about jurors, witnesses and family members of the judge and prosecutors if they involve interference in the case.
Merchán said that jail would be the last resort and that he is trying to avoid it at all costs. However, he indicated that Trump's "continued and deliberate" violations of the gag order amount to a "direct attack on the rule of law."
“I do not want to impose a prison sentence and I have done everything possible to avoid doing so, but I will do so if necessary,” said Merchán from the dock in the absence of the jury.
Merchán said he considers the prison sentence “really the last resort” for many reasons, including the interruption of the trial, the political implications of imprisoning a presidential candidate before an election and the extraordinary security challenges that would come with locking up a former president who He is assigned to a Secret Service detail for life.
Merchán had already fined Trump $9,000 for nine social media posts that, in his opinion, violated the gag order.
The magistrate spoke as Trump sat at the defendant's table in the New York courtroom holding the first criminal trial of a former US president.
Trump's criminal trial, entering its 12th day, has featured testimony from a top aide and a former tabloid editor about attempts during his first presidential run to conceal unedifying stories of sexual behavior.
