Donald Trump has been given it’s clearest warning yet by the judge in his New York hush money trial that he could be thrown in jail if he keeps breaking a court imposed gag order.
“I want you to understand that I will, if it’s necessary and appropriate,” he said on Monday (US time).
Options open to Judge Juan Merchan include placing the former US President in a cell in a court for a limited period, in a jail cell overnight or even longer if he believes Mr Trump’s actions warrant it.
The warning came as the fourth week of Mr Trump’s trial in a Manhattan court got under way.
He is accused of covering up hush money payments of $200,000 ($US130,000) linked to extramarital affairs with porn star Stormy Daniels in the run up to the 2016 US Presidential election with the prosecution trying to frame the alleged payments as election interference.
A side issue to the main part of the trial is a gag order put in place by Judge Merchan due to Mr Trump’s fondness for commenting on proceedings including on social media and at campaign rallies.
Judge Merchan has said that Mr Trump’s commentary about witnesses, such as Ms Daniels, and the jury could derail the trail.
Mr Trump, who has continually said the trial is a “witch hunt,” has said the order has limited his freedom of speech.
Last week, the 77-year-old was forced to remove seven posts from his Truth Social social media account and two from a website that breached the order. He was fined $1539 ($US1000) per violation for a total penalty of $13,856 ($US9000).
But Judge Merchan said on Monday (US time) that Mr Trump had breached the order for a 10th time when he gave an interview where he criticised the jury members in the trial.
Trump critical of jury
In an April 22 interview with the right wing Real America’s Voice news channel, Mr Trump said: “That jury was picked so fast — 95 per cent Democrat”.
The gag order expressly prevents Mr Trump from disparaging the jury in his case. All the jurors picked have said they will act impartially. Both Mr Trump’s lawyers and the prosecution were allowed to scrutinise the prospective jurors out of a pool of around 500 possible New Yorkers.
Mr Trump was fined another $1539 for the breach but the judge warned him to his face that if this continued to have no effect, incarceration as an increasingly likely option.
“Mr Trump, you have to understand that I truly don’t want to throw you in jail,” Judge Merchan said on Monday.
“But at the end of the day I have a job to do.
“There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for me.
“To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings,” he said.
“(But) I want you to understand that I will, if it’s necessary and appropriate.