Donald Trump threatened with jail after contempt of court fine | BBC News

but let’s begin with that breaking news out of New York in the last hour or so the judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial has ruled the former president has violated a gag order and found him in contempt of court he’s been fined a total of $9,000 for nine breaches well let’s go straight to the court and straight to our North America correspondent Neda toik and Neda tell us a little more about the fine and the judges comments when actually issuing that fine yeah well Matthew the judge uh issued his ruling right at the start of court today and in his ruling he essentially rejected Donald Trump’s lawyers arguments that these social media posts and these posts on his campaign websites were responding to political attacks he found in only one of the 10 instances that there was a tenuous correlation as he put it to some remarks by one of the key Witnesses in this trial Michael Cohen but otherwise he sided with prosecutors and said that Donald Trump had willfully violated this gag order nine out of 10 times now under New York law he’s only able to find Donald Trump ,000 per violation so he did that but he also said that given Donald Trump is wealthy uh he might not be discouraged from continuing to violate this gag order with such a small fine and so he did say that jail was an option on the table if there are further violations now Donald Trump has until uh close of business on Friday to pay the fine it is obviously a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of thousands he is facing in his other civil fraud trial but um he also um has to take down those offending posts by this afternoon Matthew and Nea briefly in terms of the latest from the witness box tell us the latest well the third witness has um now uh finished uh cross-examination by the defense the prosecution he was Michael Cohen’s former banker and he was really just kind of outlining the way Michael Cohen opened up a shell company in LLC to then pay stormy daniels’s lawyer transfer her the $130,000 hush money payment so remember this is ultimately a case about falsifying business records so prosecutors have presented to the jury uh those transactions to help prove their case and H there in New York outside of the courthouse thanks very much well earlier on the program I spoke to the criminal defense lawyer and former prosecutor Randy zelen who gave me his thoughts about that fine and the broader case I don’t know if it was Shakespeare that said it but this is really much ad do about nothing 9000 ,000 to Donald Trump is $9 for the rest of us so certainly Mr Trump won that round in fact for him to argue that he is treated differently he’s right uh for him to say he’s treated unfairly is wrong anyone else would have been in jail uh from the get-go and would still be sitting in jail so chalk the $99,000 up to flicking it off the shoulder win for Trump I understand what you’re saying but we heard from the judge that clear warning now there have been repeated breaches of this gag order over the last few weeks and yet we’ve only got to this stage now is there any realistic Prospect of jail time if there are further breaches do you think legally yes practically no judge michon knows very well that to even entertain seriously the thought of jail to actually incarcerate the former president would play directly into the former president’s hands it would probably guarantee some level of unrest in this country it would probably guarantee Mr Trump an even more solidified base and maybe even help him get reelected so I think the last thing that judge michon is interested in doing is giving something that he knows that the former president wants it also plays into the narrative that judge michon is conflicted and I think would it would make it easier for the former president to argue in the higher Court see of course he is operating under a conflict of interest he put me in jail interesting let’s move to the wider trial because this week three starting what do you have made about the case so far both as someone who’s an expert both in defense and prosecution the difficulty here in terms of if you want to try to keep score it’s a matter of everyone understanding that the prosecution simply doing well doing okay is not going to cut it it’s not good enough in the United States proof Beyond Reasonable Doubt is such an incredibly High bar for the prosecution if we think of the preponderance of the evidence as tipping the scale from 5050 to 5149 proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt is like 9010 so to say well the prosecution had a good day prosecution had a good week not going to do it the prosecution has to be killing it to have a realistic shot of getting a conviction and I think here there’s way too much confusion in terms of what’s legal what’s not legal is it legal for a tabloid to pay for a story to kill it to open up a bank account uh in order to make a payment can you really influence an election through the the entry of these uh false numbers in the books and Records is this uh using the system of Criminal Justice to weaponize to to take the presumptive nominee out of the race way too much going on here so right now prosecution’s okay but they’re not winning I get what you’re saying but the counter point would be that if the prosecution can prove Donald Trump knew he knew what Michael Cohen was doing and we’re told there are tapes potentially is evidence we know that Donald Trump very scrupulous about every check he signed if they can prove that connection then presumably the prosecution would be home and dry wouldn’t it technically yes again there is a difference here between the technical and the reality I think as far as technically you may very well be right there may be evidence that Mr Trump had knowledge which is one component of a criminal case here and he intended to commit a crime which is the other component even if that’s true there may be one jury one juror I’m sorry one juror sitting in that jury who is simply not going to convict the former president if for no other reason than the former president’s been saying you’re going to convict me it only takes one in the United States for a hung jury a mistrial which would be a huge win for the former president because this case would not be retried again before the election so technically you’re absolutely right well that was Randy zelen talking to me a little earlier on today’s verified live I want to turn to that important story here in London today that sword attack with police confirming a for

Donald Trump has been fined $9,000 for violating the court’s gag order imposed to stop him attacking jurors and potential witnesses in his hush-money trial.

Judge Merchan ruled against Trump on 9 out of 10 contempt charges and imposed a financial penalty of $1,000 (£799) per violation.

The Judge added that if Mr Trump continues to flout the court’s prohibitions on attacking witnesses, potential witnesses, jurors, and court staff – he could face time in jail.

In his trial, Trump is accused of trying to cover up a $130,000 (£104,500) payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before he won the 2016 election, which prosecutors say was election interference

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35 comments

  3. When will the media start being genuine about this corrupt election interference, you all go on like this is normal. Either people are very very dumb or ever so gullible. Jeez

  4. Why is Europe quiet on this injustices and persecution of a political opponent in the USA. Isn't this hypocrisy? Or they are also a bunch of banana republics or kingdoms.

  11. Trump tweeted about links the judge and his family has to receiving funds from Democrat party operatives. It is 1st Amendment speech and this contempt charge has only made Trump more popular.

  16. Please be aware that C I A (US Central Intelligence Agency) has been using a terrible weapon (electromagnetic wave weapon) created by the Soviet Union about 70 years ago against the Japan people for more than 60 years, and that C I A (US Central Intelligence Agency) is still using that weapon against the Japan people today.

    It seems that Japan also tell people in other countries that there is such a fact when they go abroad for study, business trips, sightseeing, etc. ( Telling people about this fact in Japan is punishable by the Japan government.)

    Also, please let the people of the world know that there are Japanese people who have been suffering for over 60 years due to the inhuman arrangement between the CIA (American Central Intelligence Agency) and the Japanese government at the time. The Japanese people suffer every day from the horrific weapons used by C I A. I'm asking for help.

    The content of the comment is true. Many Japan people are aware of this. Former U.S. President Donald Trump is also aware of this fact.

    Japan Ms. Tomoko Akane has been appointed as the President of the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.

    Can anyone please denounce to the International Criminal Court the "inhumane arrangements" between the C I A using horrific weapons against Japan people, the Japan government tacitly condoning the use of weapons, and the 1957 "inhumane arrangement" between Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi and C I A

    The Japan person is waiting for salvation.

    One Japan who has been suffering for more than 60 years due to the horrific weapons used by C.I.A. is seeking salvation

    Every day I am subjected to human experimentation with horrific weapons by the C I A. Please help immediately.

    ソビエト連邦が、約70年程前に作った恐ろしい兵器 ( 電磁波による兵器 )を C I A ( アメリカの中央情報局 )が　60年以上にわたり日本人に使用してきたこと、及び、今現在もその兵器を一人の日本人に対して、C I A ( アメリカの中央情報局 )が 使用している事実を承知して下さい。

    日本国内の多くの一般の日本人も 留学・出張・観光等で海外に出向いた時に他国の人々に、このような事実があることを伝えているようです。( 日本国内でこの事実を人に話すことは、日本政府により処罰されます。)

    そして、C I A ( アメリカの中央情報局 )と当時の日本政府との、非人道な取り決めで、60年以上も苦しまされている日本人がいることを、世界の人々も知って下さい。その日本人は、C I A が使用する恐ろしい兵器により、毎日苦しんでいます。助けを求めています。

    コメントの内容は真実です。日本人の多くが承知をしています。アメリカのトランプ前大統領もこの事実を承知しています。

    今年3月には日本人の赤根智子氏がオランダの国際刑事裁判所 の裁判所所長に就任をしております。

    恐ろしい兵器を日本人に使用する C I A と、兵器の使用を黙認している日本政府、及び、1957年の 岸信介首相と C I A との「非人道な取り決め」を、どなたか国際刑事裁判所へ告発して下さいませんか。

    その日本人は救いを待っています。

    C I A が使用する恐ろしい兵器により、60年以上も苦しみ続けている1人の日本人は、救いを求めています。

  19. I love how the MAGA Monkeys Call it a witch hunt meanwhile Trump's own people are turning on him in court

  22. The Democrat judge’s Democrat daughter is working directly with high ranking Democrats and raising multi million dollars on the back of this non crime criminal case. If that’s not a reason for the judge to recuse himself then what is?

  24. This trial is terrible for America's reputation as a democracy. It is just another attempt to weaponise the law to take out an opposition candidate. The kind of move you would expect in a tin pot dictatorship. Truly shameful.

  27. You said anybody else would be in jail what about Obama what about Hillary what about Biden what about hunting hunting what about Jim Biden your stupid son of a b**

  29. Why are people so desperate to keep Biden in power? Isn't there enough proof now that having him in office is making the world a more dangerous place

  33. BBC is a prostitute to political sex scandals when Biden Crime Family, Demented Joe Biden has nuclear codes and where's the "scandal" if Hunter has sold the codes for more prostitute time?
    BBC IS the deep state democrat agenda and only interviews bogus lefty views for "legal" "anal"ysis.

  35. So tired of this nonsense!! This dead case will be thrown out! The statute of limitations expired on this over 8 years ago!!!! It’s a misdemeanor charge anyway listen to Alan Dershowitz!!!! All these judges and layers need licences revoked arrested and convicted of filing a fraudulent case!!!!

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