Every time Trump has broken the gag order in his New York trial
Donald Trump has violated the gag order in his ongoing criminal hush money trial 10 times, and New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has warned that he may send the former president to jail if he does it again.
The New York court found Trump’s gag order violations stemmed from posts he wrote on social media, links shared on his campaign website and comments he made in media interviews. Prosecutors argued at least four other alleged violations occured, but Merchan ruled they were not violations of the order.
Court
Trump
March 26
Merchan issues gag order barring Trump from discussing witnesses, jurors, prosecutors or court staff.
April 1
Merchan expands the gag order to cover his family members and relatives of the district attorney after Trump attacked the judge’s daughter in social media posts.
April 10
10:07 a.m. | Truth Social
Trump reposts a statement from Stormy Daniels’s former attorney Michael Avenatti, adding his own commentary about the credibility of Daniels and Michael Cohen as witnesses.
10:48 a.m. | Truth Social
Trump shares a picture of a 2018 document titled “Official Statement of Stormy Daniels” that prosecutors say was relevant to the trial.
April 13
12:56 p.m. | Truth Social
Trump posts about Mark Pomerantz, who formerly led the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into Trump but resigned in early 2022, frustrated that the district attorney had not yet indicted the former president. Pomerantz later wrote a controversial book about the situation. Trump’s social media post also mentions his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who is expected to be a government witness at trial.
April 15
Jury selection begins. Prosecutors accuse Trump of violating the gag order and ask Merchan to hold him in contempt.
9:12 a.m. | Truth Social
Trump shares a link to a New York Post article that, prosecutors say, referred to Cohen as a “serial perjurer.” It also called the trial an “embarrassment for the New York legal system.”
10:26 a.m. | Truth Social
An hour later, Trump again shares the New York Post article.
Campaign website
Later that day, a link to the article appears on Trump’s campaign website.
April 16
1:50 p.m. | Truth Social
Trump once again shares the New York Post editorial about Cohen.
7:09 p.m. | Truth Social
Trump shares the full content of an April 3 National Review article about Cohen’s role as a witness.
Campaign website
Trump’s campaign website references the New York Post’s article again in a link roundup.
April 17
5:46 p.m. | Truth Social
Trump quotes a Fox News correspondent who said, “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”
April 19
Jury selection concludes.
April 22
Opening statements begin.
News conference
Trump calls Cohen a liar during a news conference after the trial adjourns for the day.
6 p.m. | Media interview
Trump criticizes the jury in an interview with Real America’s Voice.
April 23
Merchan holds a hearing regarding the first 10 alleged violations of the gag order listed above.
Media interview
Trump criticizes Cohen in a pre-taped interview with a Pennsylvania-based ABC affiliate that aired later that evening.
April 25
Media interview
Trump mentions David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher and a trial witness, during an early-morning campaign event in Manhattan. Trump doesn’t say anything negative about Pecker, but prosecutors argue Trump mentioning witnesses violates the gag order and could influence testimony.
April 30
Merchan finds Trump in contempt for nine of the 10 violations first alleged by prosecutors.
May 2
Merchan holds a second hearing about four additional alleged violations.
May 6
Merchan rules Trump in contempt for one of the four infractions. This was his 10th violation since the trial started.
Trump’s latest violation was for comments he made during an April 22 interview on “Just the News, No Noise,” a daily news show on Real America’s Voice, that suggested jury selection in his trial was politically motivated, according to prosecutors and court documents.
“You know [Merchan] is rushing the trial like crazy. Nobody’s ever seen a thing go like this,” Trump said in the segment. “The jury was picked so fast — 95 percent Democrats. The area’s mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a — just a purely Democrat area. It’s a very unfair situation, that I can tell you.”
<p text="The gag order, first issued March 26, bars Trump from commenting on witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, or family members of the judge or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. More than half of Trump’s 10 violations stemmed from posts he made to his 7 million followers on Truth Social, according to court documents.” class=”wpds-c-hcZlgz wpds-c-hcZlgz-bkfjoi-font-georgia wpds-c-hcZlgz-jDmrXh-width-mdCenter wpds-c-hcZlgz-ibdLmgo-css”>The gag order, first issued March 26, bars Trump from commenting on witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, or family members of the judge or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. More than half of Trump’s 10 violations stemmed from posts he made to his 7 million followers on Truth Social, according to court documents.
During trial on May 6, Merchan said that despite thousands of dollars in fines levied on Trump, they were not “serving as a deterrent.” He added that he would consider jail time for the former president as “a last resort.”
Trump addressed Merchan’s warning in a May 8 post on Truth Social, claiming the gag order existed only to block free speech.
“It is hard to sit back and listen to lies and false statements be made against you,” he wrote, “knowing that if you respond, even in the most modest fashion, you are told by a Corrupt and Highly Conflicted Judge that you will be PUT IN PRISON, maybe for a long period of time.”
<p text="Clara Ence Morse contributed to this report.” class=”wpds-c-hcZlgz wpds-c-hcZlgz-bkfjoi-font-georgia wpds-c-hcZlgz-jDmrXh-width-mdCenter wpds-c-hcZlgz-ibdLmgo-css”>Clara Ence Morse contributed to this report.