(NewsReady.com) – If there’s one thing people know about former President Donald Trump, it’s that he loves sharing his thoughts on social media. He was known for his shenanigans on X, formerly Twitter, long before he was president. Now, his posts are causing a ruckus in the courtroom.
On April 16, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed a motion with the court, asking Judge Juan Merchan to hold the former president in contempt for violating a gag order. The judge issued the non-dissemination order in the weeks leading up to the trial, prohibiting the former president from targeting witnesses and family members of those involved with the case.
Trump has ignored the order and repeatedly lashed out at witnesses in the case, including a recent string of social media posts attacking Stephanie “Stormy Daniels” Clifford and Michael Cohen. The latter is his former attorney, who has already gone to jail for paying Clifford off before the 2016 election to keep her from revealing an alleged affair with Trump. The former president also shared a video of a conservative activist criticizing Judge Merchan’s wife and Cohen.
Bragg wants Trump fined $3,000 for violating the gag order with three different social media posts. The prosecutor stated that the former president isn’t “above the law, and he cannot simply disregard judicial orders that upset him.”
Prosecutors raised the issue of the gag order on April 15, the day before Bragg’s formal filing. Prosecutor Christopher Conroy told the judge that the DA’s office believed Trump should be reminded he’s “a criminal defendant.” Todd Blanche, the former president’s attorney, argued that he was just defending himself with the social media posts.
Merchan scheduled a hearing to address the issue on April 23. Trump could face fines of $1,000 for each violation of the gag order. He could also be sent to jail, though that’s unlikely because this would be his first offense in this particular case. The former president is being tried for more than 30 felonies for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up the payment to Daniels.
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