Judge Threatens to Jail Trump, Finds Him in Contempt of Court

The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s so-called “hush-money” trial in New York on Monday found the former president in contempt of court for alleged gag order violations, warning that he might jail him.

“I find you in criminal contempt for the 10th time,” the judge told President Trump, adding that “going forward this court will have to consider a jail sanction.”

“Mr. Trump it’s important you understand the last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well,” the judge said, adding that “incarceration is truly a last resort.”

The judge added that the “magnitude of this decision is not lost on me but at the end of the day I have a job to do, so as much as I don’t want to impose a jail sanction … I want you to understand that I will if necessary and appropriate.”

“Your continued willful violations of this court’s lawful order” are a “direct attack on the rule of law,” Judge Merchan claimed.

Last week, prosecutors said that the former president’s comments to reporters outside the Manhattan court were violations of the judge’s gag order that prohibits him from speaking about certain individuals connected to the case. The former president is accused of falsifying business records to cover up payments that were made during the 2016 election, which he denies were illegal.

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The judge on Monday found President Trump had violated the gag order for remarks he gave to Just the News on April 22 about the jury-selection process. He stated that the jury was “picked so fast” and suggested that “95 percent” of them are Democrats. “The area’s mostly all Democrat,” he said, referring to Manhattan.

The judge’s gag order bars President Trump from commenting publicly on witnesses, jurors, and some others connected to the matter. The New York judge already has found that the former president, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, repeatedly violated the order, fined him $9,000, and previously warned that jail could follow if he doesn’t comply.

But the order doesn’t stop President Trump from talking about the allegations against him or commenting on the judge or the elected top prosecutor. The judge has said that it doesn’t stop him from testifying in court if he chooses.

Last week, President Trump used Judge Merchan’s previous order that fined him $9,000 to fundraise, sending an email that he and Democrats are trying to silence him while on the campaign trail.

The trial enters its third week of testimony Monday with prosecutors building toward their star witness, Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer who pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the hush money payments. Mr. Cohen is expected to face a bruising cross-examination from defense attorneys seeking to undermine his credibility with jurors.

Last week, Hope Hicks, a former White House official and for years a top aide, was the closest President Trump associate to take the witness stand in the Manhattan trial.

At one point, Ms. Hicks’ testimony appeared to help the defense’s contention that the former president was trying to protect his reputation and family—not his campaign—by shielding them from embarrassing allegations made about his personal life. President Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the case, which he has slammed as an effort to derail his campaign to reclaim the White House in November.

Earlier, jurors heard from witnesses including a tabloid magazine publisher who bought the rights to several rumors about President Trump to prevent them from coming out as well as a Los Angeles lawyer who negotiated some of those deals. That lawyer, Keith Davidson, pushed back last week on prosecutors’ claims that the deals involved “hush-money” payments for former model Karen McDougal and porn performer Stormy Daniels.

The former president has long denied he was involved in relationships with Ms. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, or Ms. McDougal.

President Trump’s lawyers have tried to chip away at the prosecution’s theory of the case and the credibility of some witnesses. They’ve raised questions during cross-examinations about whether President Trump was possibly a target of extortion, forced to arrange payouts to suppress harmful stories and spare his family embarrassment and pain. Prosecutors maintain the payments were about preserving his political viability as he sought the presidency.

The case is one of four President Trump prosecutions, and it may be possibly the only one that will reach trial before the November election. Other felony indictments charge him with plotting to subvert the 2020 presidential election and for holding classified documents after he left the White House.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.