(Reuters) – The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal trial over bribes to former porn star Stormy Daniels on Tuesday fined the former U.S. president $9,000 for online publications which, according to him, violated a gag order.
At the opening of the trial on April 15, New York prosecutors asked the judge to impose a fine on the ex-president, the first to be tried criminally in the United States, and to remind him that he could go to prison for violating a duty of silence by making statements about potential witnesses.
The judge fined Donald Trump $1,000 for each of nine online statements that he said violated the requirement not to criticize witnesses or other participants in the trial. Prosecutors had flagged 10 posts as possible violations.
Juan Merchan will consider whether to impose further fines for other statements at a hearing on Thursday. He also ordered Donald Trump to remove the statements from his Truth Social account and his campaign website.
The US presidential candidate is accused of falsifying business documents to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about a sexual relationship she says she had with Donald Trump in 2006.
Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied having sex with Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
(Reporting by Jack Queen and Jody Godoy; written by Andy Sullivan; French version by Stéphanie Hamel, edited by Kate Entringer)
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