Paul Sancya/AP
Former president Donald Trump will likely face additional sanctions for violating the gag order in his criminal case in New York City after a brutal contempt hearing Thursday morning. He had already been fined $9,000 on Tuesday for nine violations.
Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for his role in a 2016 scheme to cover up an alleged extra-marital affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels. (Trump denies any affair.)
Before the trial started, Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing Trump’s hush-money case, issued a gag order prohibiting Trump the former president from attacking or denigrating jurors, witnesses, court employees, prosecutors (or their families). The latest contempt hearing focused on four additional potential violations on top of the fine that has already been levied on Trump.
At Thursday’s hearing, prosecutors offered a quick argument that Trump had violated the gag order with statements he had made about his former attorney Michael Cohen—expected to be a key witness in the case against him. Cohen has said that he was the go-between in the hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
The prosecutors also said Trump was in violation for a comment in which the former president said he felt the jury was made up of Democratic voters.
“The defendant clearly thinks the rules should be different,” prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office Christopher Conroy told Judge Merchan. “It’s an insidious thing.”
While prosecutors spoke, Trump seemed irritated. He whispered with his attorneys and stifled yawns. But his demeanor changed dramatically when his attorney Todd Blanche stood to defend his client.
Blanche delivered a stuttered and stumbling rebuttal, essentially arguing that Trump needed to speak freely to defend himself as a political candidate. Trump’s body language became more and more tense, rolling his eyes and shaking his head as Blanche struggled to explain to Merchan why the former president should be allowed to say what he wants. (In recent days, Trump has criticized Blanche for not adhering to his desires.)
Blanche mentioned a recent joke by President Joe Biden at the White House Correspondents Dinner that Trump has faced some “Stormy weather” and Michael Cohen’s podcast, tweets, and TikToks, in which the presumptive Republican nominee for president’s former attorney regularly taunts his old boss and solicits donations.
“Everyone can say what they want in this case except President Trump,” Blanche complained.
“They’re not defendants in this case, that’s a very significant issue you’re overlooking,” Merchan retorted. “I don’t have authority over the press, I don’t have the authority over most of the people who are talking.”
Blanche went on to show a series of particularly taunting tweets from Cohen on the court’s overhead projector, reading the text, including repeatedly using Cohen’s pet nickname for Trump: “VonShitzinPantz.” He also put a tweet featuring a particularly uncomplimentary photoshopped picture of Trump as a bloated superhero on the courtroom’s big screen. Cohen had retweeted the picture, Blanche said.
Such a sad day that the defendant can’t lie and attack the Judge, prosecutors, and their families. pic.twitter.com/Bk35mIah9B
— Shay (@C1985Bears) April 16, 2024
The post led to loud laughing in the courtroom and Blanche asked his assistants to move to the next slide.
“Quickly please,” Blanche barked.
Blanche continued, saying it wasn’t fair that Trump could not respond the way he wanted to when reporters asked him questions about Cohen. But Merchan responded that Trump cannot complain about having to face reporters when it is the former president that decides to go talk to them.
“It was your client who went down to that holding area and stood in front of the press and started to speak,” Merchan said. “It wasn’t the press that went to him. You’re telling me that scrutiny is outrageous? Nobody forced your client to go stand where he did that.”
Blanche appeared flustered.
“Judge, I agree with that,” he said, leading to more courtroom laughs, and causing Trump to sit up from his slumped position and twist to turn and stare at his attorney. On Tuesday, the New York Times reported Trump is growing increasingly irritated with Blanche for not being aggressive enough in his courtroom strategy. Merchan didn’t appear much happier with Blanche, repeatedly cutting him off and telling him to skip the parts of his argument that did not address the immediate question at hand.
Merchan did not rule immediately, but it seems likely that if he finds Trump violated the gag order again, he will impose more fines. The maximum fine for violations of the gag order is $1,000, which on Tuesday Merchan said he did not think was sufficient to deter Trump, and warned that if Trump violated the order again he would consider jail time. But all of Trump’s most recent potential gag order violations came before the jail warning was issued, a fact that prosecutors on Thursday noted, saying they were only asking for more fines.
