Judge Juan Merchan has threatened to put former President Donald Trump in jail after holding him in contempt of court for the 10th time. Trump violated a gag order during the hush money trial and got fined $1000 again. This is Trump’s tenth fine for the same thing, making this now ten fines of $1000 so far.
Trump feels as though he should be able to say whatever he wants, but the judge disagrees. Merchan talked about it by making a statement saying the following, as quoted by NBC New York:
“Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction,” Merchan says. “It’s important to understand the last thing I want to do is to put you in jail, you are the former president of the United States and could be the next president of the United States. The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me. At the end of the day, I have a job to do.”
Merchan went on to accuse Trump of “continued willful” ignorance of the order and said he would not allow it to continue. If jail becomes necessary and appropriate, Merchan said he’ll take that action.
