Judge Juan Merchan has held President Donald Trump in contempt of court for violating his gag order during the trial again.
Merchan, a Biden donor with ties to top Democrats, ruled Monday for a second time Trump violated his gag order during the trial.
The New York County judge is holding Trump in criminal contempt and threatening him with jail time for any further infractions.
Merchan fined Trump $1,000 for a single violation.
He previously fined Trump for nine violations.
Trump’s 10th contempt offense occurred before the last order and not afterward.
Trump did not push the boundaries after the first gag order ruling.
“This court will have to consider a jail sanction,” Merchan told the court.
“At the end of the day, I have a job to do.
“Part of that job is to protect the dignity of the justice system.”
The violation is a “direct attack on the rule of law,” the Democrat judge added, according to court reporters.
“I cannot allow that to continue.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleged Trump committed four violations.
Those alleged violations include comments about Michael Cohen and David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer.
Prosecutors claim that speech directed toward witnesses violates Merchan’s gag order.
“It’s a political hoax,” Trump told reporters before entering the courtroom Monday.
“It’s election interference …
“This is a ridiculous situation.
“Not fair. Not fair, but we will fight.”
The gag order prevents Trump from making public comments about witnesses participating in the trial, counsel other than Bragg, “members of the court’s staff and the District Attorney’s staff, or … the family members of any counsel or staff member, if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with … counsel’s or staff’s work” on the case.
It also encompasses prospective jurors.
Increasing numbers of Americans see the criminal trial of Trump as irrelevant to his fitness for re-election, a CNN poll recently found.
Only 13 percent believe Trump is being treated the same as other “criminal defendants.”
A majority of Americans doubt Trump’s criminal trial will conclude with a fair outcome, the CNN poll found.
Only about one-third of American adults believe Trump did anything illegal regarding the case, an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found Tuesday.
The case is New York v. Trump, No. 71543-23, in the New York Supreme Court for New York County.
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