US judge warns Donald Trump of prison for violating gag order

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal trial has said that he would hold the former president in contempt of court for a tenth time for violating a gag order and said he would consider jailing him for further violations.

Justice Juan Merchan said the $1,000 fines he has imposed so far do not seem to be deterring Mr Trump from violating the gag order, which prohibits him from making public comments about jurors, witnesses and families of the judge and prosecutors if the statements mean to interfere with the case.

Judge Merchan said jail time would be a last resort and one that he was trying to avoid at all costs.

However he said that Mr Trump’s “continued, wilful” violations of the gag order amounted to a “direct attack on the rule of law”.

“I do not want to impose a jail sanction and have done everything I can to avoid doing so. But I will if necessary,” Judge Merchan said from the bench in the absence of the jury.

Mr Merchan said he considered jail time a “truly the last resort” for many reasons, including the disruption to the trial, political implications of jailing a leading presidential candidate ahead of an election and the extraordinary security challenges of incarcerating an ex-president with a lifetime Secret Service detail.

Judge Merchan had previously fined Mr Trump $9,000 for nine social media posts that he ruled had violated the gag order.

Judge Merchan spoke as Mr Trump sat at the defendant’s table in the New York courtroom in the first criminal trial of a former US president.

Mr Trump’s criminal hush money trial, entering its twelth day, has featured testimony from a top aide and a former tabloid publisher about efforts during his first presidential bid to tamp down stories of unflattering sexual behaviour.

New York prosecutors have charged Mr Trump with falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with him in 2006.

Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies ever having an affair with Ms Daniels.

Mr Trump complains frequently that the first criminal trial of a former US president has kept him cooped up in a chilly Manhattan courtroom when he should be out wooing voters as he mounts a comeback White House bid.