Donald Trump might be risking jail for contempt of court in an effort to delay his hush money trial.
New York Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case, fined the former president $9,000 for repeatedly violating his gag order, but attorney Colleen Kerwick told Newsweek that Trump might be trying to goad the judge into locking him up to stall his prosecution.
"The court can continue to fine Trump $1,000 per violation," Kerwick said. "The court can also incarcerate Trump for willful violation of a clear and unambiguous court order. Trump may be strategically goading the honorable court to do just that to delay the proceedings."
Merchan's gag forbids Trump from commenting publicly about potential witnesses in the case, jurors, court staff or their families.
The judge warned the former president that he could take further action against him, but he did not immediately rule on a request by prosecutors Thursday about additional penalties after further violations, and declined to tell Trump's lawyers whether he could share comments about trial participants on his social media.
If Trump is jailed, he could demand the trial be put on hold until he's freed, Kerwin said.
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"As Trump has a right to be present at trial, he would file an interlocutory appeal on First Amendment grounds and seek an interim stay of the trial on the grounds that it would be highly prejudicial for the jury to see him come to the court from lockup every day," she said.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal his hush money payments to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. He became the first former president to be tried in criminal court.
He was also indicted in three other jurisdictions for mishandling classified documents and for his effort to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Experts say it would be beneficial for Trump if he could delay trials until after the election in November.
