The judge in charge of Donald Trump’s trial for paying to keep something secret has made him pay a fine of US$1,000 for disobeying his order to stay quiet. The judge also told Trump that if he disobeys again, he could go to jail.
Trump has been punished for saying things that upset people during the trial. This is the second time it has happened. Last week, he had to pay $9,000 as a penalty for breaking nine rules.
Judge Juan M. can be rewritten as “Judge Juan M. ” Merchan said that if the gag order is broken again, someone could go to jail, but he doesn’t want that to happen.
Lawyers in Donald Trump’s trial about paying someone to keep quiet are getting closer to him. They have new information about how he reacted to a bad recording that came out just before the 2016 election.
Hope Hicks used to work in the White House and was a top aide for many years. She is the closest person to President Trump who has testified in the Manhattan trial.
On Friday, she told the jurors about a crazy and important time in the campaign. This was when a recording from 2005 of Trump saying inappropriate things about women was made public. He and his supporters also tried to stop other embarrassing stories from coming out. According to prosecutors, Trump gave money to a porn actor and Playboy model to keep them quiet about their sexual encounters with him before he became a politician.
“I knew this was going to be a big story and it would be in the news for many days,” Hicks said about the “Access Hollywood” recording that was first reported in a Washington Post story in October 2016. “This was a bad thing that happened. ”
The trial is in its third week of testimony. The prosecutors are getting ready to bring in their main witness, Michael Cohen. He used to be Trump’s lawyer and helped to solve his problems. He admitted to breaking the law by making secret payments. Cohen will be asked tough questions by the defense lawyers who want to make the jurors doubt his honesty.
Trump is accused of committing 34 crimes for lying about his business records and paying to hide bad news stories. Prosecutors say Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, paid Cohen back for the money he gave to porn star Stormy Daniels and also gave him bonuses and extra money. Prosecutors say that the transactions were recorded as legal expenses in the company’s records even though they were not.
Trump has said he did not do anything wrong and didn’t have any sexual encounters with the women. He says he is not guilty.
“Jurors have listened to people speak in court, like a magazine publisher and a friend of Trump’s. The friend bought stories about Trump to keep them secret, and a lawyer arranged to pay money to keep two woman’s stories quiet. ”
Trump’s lawyers have been trying to weaken the prosecution’s argument and make some witnesses seem less believable. They asked if Trump was pressured to pay money to stop negative stories and protect his family. The lawyers say the money was to keep him in the running for president.
This case is one of four legal actions against Trump. It might be the only one to go to trial before the November election. He is being charged with trying to undermine the 2020 election and keeping secret documents illegally after he stopped being the president.