Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will urge a judge on Tuesday at a hearing to hold Donald Trump in criminal contempt for allegedly violating a gag order in the former president’s hush money case in New York.
Bragg has claimed Trump violated the order at least 10 times and has argued to Judge Juan Merchan that a contempt finding should be accompanied by sanctions of $1,000 per gag order violation and a warning that additional violations would result in a punishment of prison time.
Merchan appeared poised to consider holding Trump in contempt seriously after he scheduled the hearing on the matter and ordered Trump’s attorneys to respond in writing ahead of the hearing with reasons why the former president should not be penalized for his comments.
Merchan issued the gag order on April 1, effectively banning Trump from speaking about witnesses in the case, prosecutors and their families, and court staff and their families.
While Merchan acknowledged in the order that courts are “understandably concerned” about Trump’s right to free speech, the judge said Trump’s verbal attacks on those involved in his legal proceedings served to intimidate witnesses or officials and therefore interfered with the court process.
“The People provide a plethora of compelling arguments in support of their claim that Defendant’s conduct is deliberate and intended to intimidate this Court and impede the orderly administration of this trial,” Merchan wrote.
On April 15, prosecutors filed three examples of alleged gag order violations, which involved Trump making references to Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, two known witnesses in the case who are both aggressively outspoken about Trump in their own rights.
Bragg, an elected Democrat, has charged Trump with concealing payments that Cohen, then Trump’s attorney, arranged in 2016 to silence Daniels ahead of the presidential election.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to a bank, evading taxes, violating campaign finance laws, and lying to Congress, and one of his crimes included his efforts to pay off Daniels. Cohen eventually blamed Trump for encouraging his criminal activity and has since been vocal about his gripes with his former client.
Amid the start of Trump’s trial for the hush money payments, Cohen has gone on a media blitz, criticizing Trump in podcasts, calling Trump names like “Von S***zInPantz” on X, and conducting national media interviews in which he details how crucial he views himself to Bragg’s case.
Meanwhile, prosecutors say Trump’s posts on Truth Social about Cohen are a violation of the gag order, which Merchan installed to prevent witness intimidation and maintain fair court proceedings.
One of the posts prosecutors say violated the order was a comment written by Daniels’s former attorney Michael Avenatti.
“It is outrageous that Cohen and Daniels can do countless TV interviews, post on social, & make $$ on bogus documentaries — all by talking s*** about Trump — but he’s gagged and threatened with jail if he responds,” Avenatti wrote.
Trump shared the remark on his own social media page and thanked Avenatti for “revealing the truth about two sleaze bags.”
The two other alleged gag order violations were a post that referenced Daniels’s name and showed a picture of a statement she made years ago about Trump, as well as a post in which Trump called Cohen a “disgraced attorney and felon.”
On April 18, prosecutors supplemented their contempt request with seven more examples of Trump’s alleged gag order violations, which largely consisted of Trump quoting news articles about Cohen on Truth Social.
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Trump’s attorneys had argued in court papers ahead of Merchan issuing the gag order that limiting the speech of the presumptive Republican presidential candidate defied Supreme Court precedent.
“President Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee and leading candidate in the 2024 election. The Supreme Court has ‘never allowed the government to prohibit candidates from communicating relevant information to voters during an election,’” the attorneys wrote.
