The judge did leave in place a separate order that prohibits Trump and his lawyers from disclosing the identities of individual jurors or their home or work addresses.
‘It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Therefore going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction.’
The judge warned that the court would not tolerate ‘willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment.’
Judge Juan Merchan did not immediately rule but repeatedly signaled his exasperation with the Trump team.
Trump says he did nothing wrong, and has cast himself as the victim of a politically motivated justice system bent on keeping him out of the White House.
Trump complained that the judge was ‘wrongfully attempting to deprive me of my First Amendment Right to speak out against the Weaponization of Law Enforcement’ by Democratic rivals and that Loren Merchan ‘makes money by working to ‘Get Trump.’’
The order cited Trump’s history of ‘threatening, inflammatory, denigrating’ remarks about people involved in his legal cases in granting the prosecution’s request for what it deemed a ‘narrowly tailored’ gag order.
The judge said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s statements have induced fear and necessitated added security measures to protect his targets and investigate threats.
Trump’s lawyers wrote in court papers Monday that the ‘Access Hollywood’ video ‘contains inflammatory and unduly prejudicial evidence that has no place at this trial about documents and accounting practices.’
‘This petition presents a question of exceptional importance: Whether a district court may gag the core political speech of the leading candidate for President of the United States.’
