OFF THE PRESS
Former President Trump deleted social media posts that a judge determined violated a gag order in his criminal hush money trial, just before a Tuesday deadline.
Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump $9,000 and held him in contempt nine times early Tuesday over the posts on Truth Social and his campaign website, which included attacks on prospective jurors and witnesses in the case. He added that further violations could result in jail time.
The nine deleted posts, most of them reposts of other online figures, include multiple attacks on expected witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, as well as a post blasting potential jurors as “liberal activists.” Merchan found that one of the posts in question, a repost of attorney Michael Avenatti, which disparaged Daniels and Cohen, did not violate the gag order and could remain online.
