Hush money trial: Donald Trump fined $9,000 for violating gag order

Former US president Donald Trump has been fined by the New York Judge Juan Merchan for consistently violating the gag order in the hush money trial.

The judge on Tuesday directed the ex-president to remove the seven “offending posts” from Truth Social and the two “offending posts” from his campaign website by 2:15pm ET Tuesday, according to CNN.

For criticising expected trial witnesses in posts on social media and his campaign page, Merchan ruled that Trump violated the gag order nine times.

He is asked to pay a $9,000 fine by the end of the week.

Writing in his ruling, Merchan also threatened incarceration if Trump willfully violates the gag order again.

“THEREFORE, Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” the ruling stated.

After the New York judge revealed his decision, Trump was not seen expressing any visible reaction.

Trump’s defense argued that reposts of other people’s words do not violate the gag order in last week’s hearing on gag order violations.

It also added that the posts represent protected political speech in response to attacks.

“There can be no doubt whatsoever, that Defendant’s intent and purpose when reposting, is to communicate to his audience that he endorses and adopts the posted statement as his own,” Merchan wrote.