Judge Juan Merchan told former President Donald Trump the $1,000 per instance fines for contempt aren't working and that he has to consider jail.
Information from Eyewitness News, ABC News and the Associated PressJudge Juan Merchan found Monday that former President Donald Trump violated the gag order an additional and held him in contempt.Merchan said that the $1,000 dollar fines per violation "are not serving as a deterrent" and threatened to jail Trump moving forward.
Trump also faced a second contempt hearing over whether he had again violated his gag order over four more prospective violations. Judge Juan M. Merchan has not yet ruled on that sanctions request. Trump was fined $9,000 earlier in the week over gag order violations.Trump lawyer Todd Blanche indicated on Friday in comments in court that the former president is appealing the judge's finding this week that he violated his gag order.
"I don't think he wanted anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed by anything happening in the campaign," she continued.Hicks recalls conversation with Trump about the Daniels payment Hicks testified that Donald Trump requested that she convey to the Journal reporter who reached out for comment a denial of McDougal's claims of an affair and porn actor Stormy Daniels' claims of a sexual encounter, which were also mentioned in the article.As is standard practice, The Wall Street Journal contacted Hicks before publication of the article and included Hicks' statement in the story.
The former president paid the penalty Thursday, ahead of a Friday deadline. Trump's legal team supplied the court clerk's office with two cashier's checks - one for $2,000 and one for $7,000. Thursday's proceedings included a contempt hearing over whether the former president had again violated his gag order.
Less than an hour after jurors listened to some of Cohen's recordings of his phone calls with Keith Davidson, Daus showed the jurors the location of some of those recordings on Cohen's phone.Prosecutors have called their next witness: Douglas Daus, who works for the lab that processes devices for the Manhattan district attorney's office.
For the Trump case, Daus conducted an analysis of two of Michael Cohen's phones -- an iPhone 6S and iPhone 7.On call, Cohen said Trump 'hated' that they did Daniels agreement "Because he's signing this agreement as a lawyer?" he asked Davidson, who agreed -- appearing to support why Trump reimbursed Cohen and marked it as a legal expense.Trump remained in the courtroom, standing and speaking with his attorney Susan Necheles and legal adviser Boris Epshteyn.
"It's the truth, Michael. You know that -- that you and I both want the truth out there," Bove read from transcript of Davidson's remarks. By the time Davidson negotiated hush money payments for McDougal and Daniels, Bove suggested to the witness, "You were pretty well versed in coming right up to the line without committing extortion, right?"Davidson was previously investigated by the FBI but not charged after he asked Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, to pay his client $300,000 to head off the release of the wrestling star's sex tape, portions of which ended up published by Gawker.
In another instance, Davidson issued a statement for Daniels again denying she'd had a sexual encounter with Trump, drafting it in a Hollywood hotel suite as she was getting ready to appear on Jimmy Kimmel's late night show. "I don't think anyone has ever alleged that any interaction between she and Mr. Trump was romantic," the lawyer testified, drawing a laugh from prosecutors.
"There was an understanding that our efforts may have in some way - strike that - our activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump," Davidson added.As Keith Davidson returned to the witness stand Thursday, jurors got a look at the confidential settlement agreement he negotiated on behalf of Stormy Daniels.
The side letter said only Davidson and Cohen were to keep copies of the document, deeming it "ATTORNEY'S EYES ONLY."No ruling from judge on sanctions as testimony continued Thursday "The defendant is talking about witnesses and the jury in this case, one right here outside this door," prosecutor Christopher Conroy said. "This is the most critical time, the time the proceeding has to be protected."
Prosecutors are seeking $1,000 fines for each of four comments by Trump that they say violated a judge's gag order barring him from attacking witnesses, jurors and others closely connected to the case. Such a penalty would be on top of a $9,000 fine that Judge Juan M. Merchan imposed on Tuesday related to nine separate gag order violations that he found.
His remarks will be closely watched after he received a $9,000 fine for making public statements about people connected to the case. In imposing the fine for posts on Trump's Truth Social account and campaign website, Judge Juan M. Merchan said that if Trump continued to violate his orders, he "will impose an incarceratory punishment."
As the excuses piled up, Davidson said he understood that Cohen "didn't have the authority to actually spend money." He eventually sent an email informing Cohen that the deal involving Daniel's story about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump was off.
"I don't think he was accusing us of anything, he was just screaming," Davidson continued. "Finally, after he finished, I explained to him that I was calling because my client, Stormy Daniels, did not want the story up. I wanted to see if he had done anything" to try to get the story taken down. Judge Merchan also delivered some good news from the bench: Trump can attend his son Barron's graduation on May 17.
The first week of testimony was the scene-setter for jurors: Manhattan prosecutors portrayed what they say was an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential campaign by burying negative stories. The former president declared that the case was politically motivated and reaffirmed his willingness to debate President Joe Biden anytime, anywhere, even Friday night or at the White House.
Farro said that since the account was never funded, it was never technically opened. Instead, Cohen pivoted to starting another account for another LLC - Essential Consultants - which he used to make the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Similarly, Farro said Cohen led him to believe that firm would be involved in real estate consulting.The prosecution on Friday called its third witness in former president Donald Trump's hush money trial to testify.
Rhona Graff, Donald Trump's longtime executive assistant, was called to the stand Friday in the former president's hush money trial in Manhattan. "Is it standard operating procedure for AMI to be consulting with a presidential candidate's fixer about amendments to a source agreement?" Steinglass asked, using initials for the tabloid's parent company. "No," Pecker responded.
After the sidebar conversation broke up for a few minutes, Trump leaned over to another of his lawyers, Todd Blanche, whispering something to him. Blanche then leaned toward Trump and covered his mouth as he whispered a response, while Bove resumed questioning Pecker.
David Pecker returned to the witness stand for the fourth day as defense attorneys tried to poke holes in his testimony, which has described helping bury embarrassing stories Trump feared could hurt his campaign. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass alleged that defense attorney Emil Bove used a "totally improper line of questioning" during Bove's cross-examination of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
Former President Trump's attorney Emil Bove began his cross-examination of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker by seeking to painting Pecker and Trump's "mutually beneficially" relationship as one that had nothing to do with the election but rather had been underway for years under a "standard operating procedure."
"On the contrary," he said, "I felt that Donald Trump was my mentor. He helped me throughout my career." "I thought you had and we had an agreement with Karen McDougal that she can't give any interviews or be on any TV channels," Pecker testified that Trump told him by phone. He did not respond to a shouted question about the U.S. Supreme Court, which heard arguments earlier Thursday in his bid to avoid prosecution over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
After dismissing the aides, Trump asked Pecker for an update on "our girl," meaning McDougal, according to Pecker. The Enquirer had paid McDougal for the rights to her story claiming an affair with Trump, Pecker testified earlier. The Journal article broke the news of the Enquirer's $150,000 payment to Karen McDougal for the rights to the former Playboy model's story claiming an affair with Trump.
The court broke for lunch shortly afterward. Trump left the courtroom without addressing reporters in the hallway."Do you know someone by the same of Stephanie Clifford?" In a series of text messages the jury saw, Howard told Pecker, "I know denials were made in the past but this story is true." "Contrary to the defendant's arguments, Ms. Carroll's compensatory damages were not awarded solely for her emotional distress; they were not for garden variety harms; and they were not excessive," Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote.
Lastly, Pecker testified about his repeated efforts to get that repayment -- which he said never happened. "Do you know if anyone else besides Michael Cohen had any knowledge of this contract?" prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked."Was your principal purpose to suppress the story to prevent it from influencing the election?" Steinglass asked."Were you aware that expenditures by corporations made for the purpose of influencing an election made in coordination with or at the request of a candidate or campaign were unlawful?" Steinglass asked.
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