Judge hears arguments on whether to hold Trump in contempt of gag order
Victoria Bekiempis
The prosecution is making its arguments as to whether judge Juan Merchan should hold Trump in contempt.
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy handed Merchan documents with the 10 alleged violations.
“Eight of the violative posts were on the defendant’s Truth Social account,” Conroy said. Two of the posts were on his official campaign website. He argued:
Defendant has violated this order repeatedly and hasn’t stopped.
“The defendant violated the order again – on camera. He did it right here in the hallway outside,” Conroy said, referring to his dig at Cohen yesterday.
We will be filing another order to show cause for this violation later today.
Key events
Judge tells Trump lawyer he’s ‘losing all credibility with the court’
Victoria Bekiempis
Things are not going well for Donald Trump as his lawyer, Todd Blanche, continues to make the claim that re-posting doesn’t violate the gag order.
Judge Merchan said:
Mr Blanche you’re losing all credibility, I have to tell you right now … You’re losing all credibility with the court. Is there any other argument you want to make?
Merchan is reserving decision on the prosecution’s contempt request. This means he is not making a decision right now
Victoria Bekiempis
Judge Merchan is clearly not buying that this is passive, he asks, “How does it get there, how does it get on to [your] client’s Truth Social account?”
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche replies:
There’s a group of folks that work with President Trump that when they see articles they believe President Trump’s audience should read.
Blanche added that “there’s a mechanism” through which they get posted.
Merchan asked of re-posting:
What is the mechanism?
Blanche said:
I believe you click on it.
Merchan said shortly thereafter:
Someone had to do something.
Victoria Bekiempis
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche is saying that seven of the alleged 10 gag order violations are not, because they’re just re-posts.
“It’s not making a mockery of the gag order, your honor – it’s a close call,” Blanche said.
Re-posting an article from a news site or a news program … we don’t believe are a violation of the gag order.
Judge Juan Merchan asked whether there’s any case law on that.
I don’t have any case laws, your honor, it’s just common sense.
Judge shows frustration with slow pace of gag order hearing
Victoria Bekiempis
Right now, judge Juan Merchan is questioning Trump lawyer Todd Blanche about his contention that Trump was just responding to political attacks, not sliming witnesses in violation of the gag order.
Merchan is getting annoyed over the laborious pace of this process. When Blanche seems to take issue with Merchan trying to move things along, the judge says:
I’m asking you questions, OK. I’m going to decide whether your client is in contempt or not, don’t turn it around.
Merchan then said:
I’m not getting an answer, it’s now almost 10:30, the jurors are going to be here at 11 o’clock. I don’t want to keep them waiting.
“The people [got] to speak as long as they wanted to,” Blanche said.
The people were answering my questions.
Defense argues Trump social media posts are responses to ‘political attacks’
Victoria Bekiempis
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche is now making his argument against contempt. He said that Trump didn’t violate the gag order. Blanche said:
There is no dispute that President Trump is facing a barrage of political attacks from all sides including from the two witnesses who are referenced in the early posts.
But, Trump is within his rights to comment on such, he said, adding:
That’s the political, he’s allowed to respond to political attacks, your honor.
Victoria Bekiempis
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy has just said that prosecutors are not seeking jail time for Trump’s violations of the gag order.
We are not yet seeking incarceratory penalty. Defendant seems to be angling for that … We are asking the court to impose the maximum $1,000 fine for each violation.
Prosecution argues Trump knew parameters of gag order but flouted them anyway
Victoria Bekiempis
Right now, the prosecutor is going over all of the evidence showing that Trump knew about the order.
Remember: It’s on the prosecution to show that he’s violated the order and convince judge Juan Merchan to find him in contempt.
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy pointed out, for example, that Trump’s complaints about the order – not to mention his litigation against it – prove that he knew the parameters but flouted them anyway.
“He knows about the order, he knows what he’s not allowed to do, and he does it anyway,” Conroy said.
His disobedience of the order is willful, it’s intentional.
No cameras are allowed inside the courtroom during proceedings, but Donald Trump was photographed before the court was called into session.
Judge hears arguments on whether to hold Trump in contempt of gag order
Victoria Bekiempis
The prosecution is making its arguments as to whether judge Juan Merchan should hold Trump in contempt.
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy handed Merchan documents with the 10 alleged violations.
“Eight of the violative posts were on the defendant’s Truth Social account,” Conroy said. Two of the posts were on his official campaign website. He argued:
Defendant has violated this order repeatedly and hasn’t stopped.
“The defendant violated the order again – on camera. He did it right here in the hallway outside,” Conroy said, referring to his dig at Cohen yesterday.
We will be filing another order to show cause for this violation later today.
Donald Trump spoke to the media before heading inside the courtroom. He refused to answer questions about why he did not appeal his gag order, if he would continue to post about witnesses, and if he thinks Michael Cohen is a “sleaze bag”, per pool.
The former president spoke abut the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in several US universities, describing them as a “disgrace to our country” and “all Biden’s fault”.
He said people were wanting to “protest peacefully” at the Manhattan court but “we have more police presence here than anyone’s ever seen … you can’t get near this courthouse”, meanwhile “you have nobody up in a college, where you have very radical people wanting to rip the colleges down, the universities down.”
Hugo Lowell
Donald Trump is seated by himself looking fatigued and with his eyes closed while he waits for his lawyers to confer with the judge and prosecutors before the start of proceedings today.
First on the agenda: whether Trump violated the gag order barring him from assailing witnesses in the case.
Prosecutors allege Trump violated the order multiple times, with Trump seemingly ignoring the gag order altogether on Monday when he directly attacked his former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Victoria Bekiempis
Following the contempt hearing, David Pecker is expected to return to the witness stand.
Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, is the first prosecution witness.
Prosecutors contend that Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, and David Pecker plotted in 2015 to prevent damaging information about the then-GOP presidential hopeful from getting out.
Prosecutors allege that Trump’s transfer of hush-money was illicit, arguing that it was falsely represented in business records as legal services to Cohen.