EFE
Donald Trump will use a one-day break in his trial on Wednesday over allegations he paid to prevent public disclosures to harangue supporters in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan, a day after the judge found him in contempt and threatened him. with jail for violating a gag order.
His statements will be examined a day after Trump was fined $9,000 for making comments on his social network Truth Social and on his campaign website about people linked to the case against him. On Tuesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan warned that if Trump continued to ignore his orders, the court would “impose a punishment of imprisonment.”
Trump is trying to do an unprecedented act in American history: be the virtual presidential candidate of the Republican Party, at the same time that he is on trial on criminal charges in New York.
The former president usually criticizes Merchan, prosecutors and witnesses at his political rallies and on social networks, which inspires applause from his followers, but could cause legal problems.
Trump insists that he is only exercising his right to free speech, but he deleted the violating comments from his Truth Social account and from his campaign website. Merchan is studying other allegations that Trump violated the gag order, and will hear arguments on the matter on Thursday.
Trump seemed frustrated as the trial concluded the ninth day, saying he should be campaigning in Georgia and New Hampshire instead of sitting in a courtroom.
“They don't want me to be campaigning,” he told reporters.
Trump has described the cases against him as “electoral interference,” stating that they prevent him from campaigning for the elections in November.
The gag order prohibits him from making public comments about witnesses, jurors or others connected to the case in New York, in which he is accused of trying to illegally influence the 2016 election by paying publications and individuals to suppress unfavorable news about him. . Trump has pleaded not guilty.
