Former United States (US) President Donald Trump is facing another bout of trouble as a Manhattan court Judge Juan Merchan has threatened to jail him if he continues to violate the gag order imposed on him.
The judge had earlier slammed a fine of $1,000 on the presumed presidential candidate of the Republican Party in the November election for an additional violation, stressing that the jail sentence may come handy as it is “clear” that the fine is not effective.
Trump is reportedly undergoing trial in Manhattan, where he is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
According to Fox News, Judge Merchan had imposed a gag order on Trump before the trial began, ordering that he cannot make or direct others to make public statements about witnesses with regard to their potential participation or about counsel in the case.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and prosecutors have alleged more than a dozen gag order violations by the former president.
However, Merchan said yesterday that going forward, the court would have to consider “a jail sentence”.
“The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said. “You are former president and possibly the next president.
“The magnitude of that decision is not lost on me. Your continued willful violation of the court’s order constitutes a direct attack and will not be allowed to continue. It is not allowed to continue,” he warned.
However, Trump and his lawyers argued that he should not be bound by the gag order, because it violates his First Amendment rights as well as the First Amendment rights of his supporters.
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