Judge Rules On Trump’s Alleged Gag Order Violations In Hush Money Trial
Huffington PostApr 30
Trump Fined Again for Violating Gag Order
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The Facts
Former Pres. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, was fined the maximum of $1K again Monday for violating the gag order imposed in his New York hush money trial.
Previously, Judge Juan Merchan last week fined Trump $1K each for nine Truth Social posts that were deemed in violation of the gag order, which prohibits Trump from making public statements related to likely witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, or their families.
The Spin
Anti-Trump narrative
This is a small penalty for Trump's blatant flaunting of the gag order. Merchan may have to up the ante, and even consider jail time if Trump doesn't cease attempting to put his thumb on the scale of justice with insulting posts and accusatory statements about witnesses and other members of the court.
Pro-Trump narrative
It's absurd that Trump is being punished when people like Daniels and Cohen have been profiting off public interviews and their accusations about the former president. Trump has merely been reiterating his long-held, correct views about this case being a witch hunt against him, and his First Amendment rights have been taken away.
Nerd narrative
There's a 12% chance that Trump will testify at the hush money trial, according to the Metaculus prediction community.