Trump convicted of contempt, threatened with “incarceration” at his trial in New York – 04/30/2024 at 11:36 p.m.

Donald Trump was fined $9,000 on Tuesday for publicly attacking witnesses and jurors on the sidelines of his criminal trial in New York, where the judge threatened to incarcerate him if he did it again.

Donald Trump “is warned that the Court will not tolerate the continuation of deliberate violations of its orders (…) If necessary and appropriate, it will impose a prison sentence”, writes Judge Juan Merchan in his decision rendered as of the resumption of debates.

The magistrate sentenced the former President of the United States, present in the courtroom for this third week of trial, to a fine of $1,000 for each of the nine violations, the maximum allowed by law. The attacks were removed, as ordered by the judge, from the Truth Social network and Donald Trump’s campaign website.

Since the start of the trial, prosecutors had asked that Donald Trump be punished for his repeated violations of the ban on attacking key witnesses in the case, such as his former lawyer Michael Cohen and former porn star Stormy Daniels , or even to the jurors, whom he implies are not impartial.

Even before the judge ruled on these first violations, prosecutors raised new ones. After a break in the trial on Wednesday, they will be examined on Thursday, with other possible sanctions at stake for the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, who, during a meeting, defied the judge to put him in prison.

– “Gag” –

Leaving the court on Tuesday, Donald Trump once again denounced this “totally unconstitutional gag order” which the judge defends so that witnesses and jurors do not feel intimidated and under pressure.

The first former president in the history of the United States to be tried criminally, Donald Trump, 77, faces a conviction and, in theory, up to a prison sentence in this case, probably the only one of four in which he is charged which will be decided before the presidential election on November 5.

In this case, he is being prosecuted for 34 falsifications of accounting documents which allegedly served to conceal a payment to cover up a potential sex scandal in the home stretch of the 2016 presidential campaign won narrowly against Hillary Clinton.

A sum of $130,000 was paid to Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about a sexual relationship she claimed to have had with him in 2006, when he was already married. A relationship he denies. The prosecution speaks of a “plot” to “falsify” the election when the defense sees it as the normal functioning of democracy.

Tuesday, the parade of witnesses continued, a gallery of colorful intermediaries who reveal behind the scenes of these transactions in Donald Trump’s entourage, where the rumored stories were sold not to be published.

Last week, the former boss of the American tabloid “The National Enquirer”, David Pecker, recounted how he had put himself at the service of the Trumpist campaign in 2016 by purchasing the exclusive rights to two other testimonies likely to cause scandals , including that of a model, Karen McDougal, who also claimed to have had a relationship with the billionaire.

– “Thunder” –

Before the jurors, his story was completed Tuesday by Karen McDougal’s lawyer, Keith Davidson, who also represented the interests of Stormy Daniels at the time.

“I have a great story about Trump,” the lawyer recalled saying. “He cheated on Melania?” a tabloid reporter replied. After this first “deal”, Donald Trump’s campaign will be shaken by the broadcast, on October 7, 2016, of an old video recording where he boasts, in crude terms, of “grabbing” women “by the pussy”.

“Trump is screwed,” said Keith Davidson. According to him, the value of Stormy Daniels’ testimony will “crescendo”, because Donald Trump will want to avoid a new scandal at all costs.

This time, it is his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who negotiates the transaction. For Keith Davidson, “Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump” were the two parties bound by the agreement.

The settlement was made by Michael Cohen, who was then reimbursed in 2017 by Donald Trump’s business group, the Trump Organization. These expenses had been recorded as “legal costs”, hence the prosecution for accounting falsifications.

Other leading witnesses are expected, including Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels – real name Stephanie Clifford -, but also Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former political strategist, or Hope Hicks, his former director of the communication at the White House.