New York: Former United States president Donald Trump got fined $9,000 for defying a gag order by a US court. The New York judge who is presiding over Trump's hush money trial slapped the ex-president with $1,000 each for nine specific violations of the gag order, and the court warned that further violations could result in a jail term, Agence France-Presse reported.
The judge, Juan Merchan, held Trump in contempt of court for breaching the order that the 77-year-old must not publicly attack witnesses, jurors, court staff or their relatives. The court also ordered Trump to remove seven offensive posts from his Truth social media account by Tuesday afternoon.
Merchan ruled, "Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment," AFP quoted.
The order was based on the hush money case, in which the historic trial of a former president is going on in the United States. The charges against Trump in the notorious case were falsifying business records to pay hush money to a porn star, Stormy Daniels.
Donald Trump remains the first former US president to face criminal charges, and his required attendance in court is limiting his time in campaigns as there will be a likely rematch for him with President Joe Biden.
Trump, a Republican, is accused of business records to reimburse his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, for the $130,000 funnelled to Daniels just days ahead of the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, AFP reports. Daniels accused Trump of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with her.