Judge Juan Merchan, presiding over the first criminal trial involving a sitting or former president in US history, reserved his decision Tuesday as he weighs whether to hold Donald Trump in contempt of court over alleged gag order violations at his hush money trial.
It wasn’t immediately clear when Merchan might issue a decision. Judges “reserve a decision” typically in more complex cases that may require additional information-gathering. A written decision follows later.
Prosecutors sought on the trial’s opening day to have an order for a hearing on Trump sanctions in conjunction with that gag order, which bars him from attacking witnesses and others associated with his case. They say Trump has violated the order at least 10 times since, and while they’re not seeing jail time associated with this contempt charge, they are asking for a warning that includes mention of a possible month-long stay in jail, along with additional fine.
Regarding the 10 instances prosecutors presented in court Tuesday, they say they want a $1,000 fine levied on each one. They also want all those posts pulled from Trump’s platform.
Trump’s lawyers have denied his Truth Social posts willfully violated the gag order. They say his posts were intended to defend himself as a presidential candidate, not to defend himself as a criminal defendant.
They also argued that Trump is “trying” to comply with the gag order — to which Merchan responded, “You are losing all credibility with the court.”
The scope of the order is the key to the arguments. The gag order does not bar Trump from talking about any witness in the case ever about anything. It bans him from talking about witnesses to the extent it concerns their “potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding.”
Merchan expanded the order following attacks on his own daughter.
What happens next falls under the purview of Merchan. If he finds Trump in contempt, he is unlikely to order jail time as an immediate punishment, although he could. A fine and warning is more likely at first.
Trump has repeatedly condemned the court proceedings as silencing.
He left the court for a brief recess, then returned shortly before 11 am as it reconvened with testimony from the prosecution’s first witness, David Pecker.
During the break, the former president posted on Truth Social that Merchan had “taken away my constitutional right to free speech” and demanded his recusal.
Merchan has already denied a defense motion to recuse himself from the case.
