The Daily Fuckup

Donald Trump picked up a contempt ruling in his New York hush-money trial on April 30, 2024, after Justice Juan Merchan found nine violations of the case’s expanded gag order. Merchan fined Trump $1,000 for each violation, for a total of $9,000, and ordered that the offending social media posts be removed from Truth Social and Trump’s campaign website by a set deadline.

The ruling came after prosecutors argued that Trump had repeatedly crossed the line set by the court order, which was designed to limit public attacks on witnesses, jurors and others tied to the trial. In his written decision, Merchan said the court would not tolerate continued violations and warned that future breaches could lead to incarceration if the circumstances warranted it.

The judge also made clear that the sanction was based on Trump’s conduct in the case, not on his broader political arguments about the trial. Under New York law, criminal contempt can be punished by a fine of up to $1,000 per violation, jail for up to 30 days, or both. Merchan chose the monetary penalty for the April 30 ruling but said fines may not be enough if Trump keeps testing the order.

The contempt finding added another legal headache to a trial already unfolding under intense political pressure. Trump and his lawyers have framed the gag order as a free-speech constraint, but the court treated the issue as a simple one: a direct order had been issued, the judge found it had been violated, and the penalties followed. The warning attached to the ruling was equally direct. If Trump keeps posting where the court says he cannot, the next step could be jail.