Trump: This case is a ‘disgrace’
Former President Trump makes remarks outside the New York State Supreme Court, calling the case against him a “political witch hunt.”
Former President Trump said he’d make the “sacrifice” of going to jail to defend free speech amid his trial in Manhattan where the 45th president is under a gag order that he has slammed as “unconstitutional.”
“I have to watch every word I tell you people. You ask me a question, a simple question I’d like to give it, but I can’t talk about it because this judge has given me a gag order and [says] you’ll go to jail if you violate it,” Trump said in remarks outside the courtroom Monday afternoon.
“And frankly, you know what? Our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day.”
Earlier Monday, presiding Judge Juan Merchan said he will consider a jail sentence for Trump if he continues to violate the gag order. The gag order prevents Trump from making or directing others to make public statements about witnesses and their potential participation or remarks about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.
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Former President Trump speaks to the media outside a Manhattan court in New York City on April 15, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The DA’s office argued that Trump violated the order more than a dozen times, with the judge ruling last week that Trump violated the order nine times, resulting in a combined $9,000 fine. Merchan fined the former president another $1,000 for an additional violation on Monday, arguing that it’s “clear” the $1,000 fines for each violation are not effective.
“The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said. “You are [the] former president and possibly the next president.”
In the judge’s initial gag order ruling last Tuesday, he threatened Trump with jail time if he continued to violate the order, lamenting not being able to fine Trump more than $1,000 for each violation.
Merchan wrote in the Tuesday order that if Trump carries out “continued willful violations” of the gag order, he could face “incarceratory punishment” if “necessary and appropriate.”
In the text of his order, Merchan said the fines’ costs “unfortunately will not achieve the desired result in those instances where the…
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